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http://www.macnn.com/articles/00/12/11/excite's.freelane/

Excite's FreeLane 2.0 axes Mac support

updated 06:05 am EST, Mon December 11, 2000

 
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FreeLane, the free ISP from Excite, has released version 2.0, which uses a new provider following the demise of 1stUp.com. In doing so, Mac support has been discontinued: "Due to circumstances beyond our control we regret to inform you that we are no longer able to support Macintosh users and subscribers dialing in from Canada. We sincerely regret this new development."


by MacNN Staff

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  1. 0

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    12/11, 06:24am | report spam | Reply | delete

    regrets?

    gosh, circumstances beyond our control have caused us to issue a pathetic excuse for cowardice. yeah.

  1. 0

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    12/11, 07:42am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Is it that difficult?

    Give me a break. How much resources do you need to support Mac dial-up accounts? It's all TCP/IP. Bang bang bang. Where's the problem? Oh well. This free ISP thing will be completely dead by the end of next year anyway. So, no one should care about this. Can't get something for free.

  1. 0

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    12/11, 07:51am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Altavista also

    Yup, "no such thing as a free lunch." Altavista also used the FirstUp technology, and they discontinued service on the 10th. Of course they "sincerely" apologized for the incontinence, and stated that they had examined "every possible" alternative. The best that they were able to come up with for us poor, disenfranchised Mac users was a 3 month free deal with MSN! It's too bad that no one at Altavista read the system requirements on MSN's first page.

    Windoze only. What a crock.

  1. 0

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    12/11, 07:57am | report spam | Reply | delete

    It's more difficult...

    It's not just TCP/IP... the entire banner-ad-online-connection software needs to be written for the Mac. Sure, not a very daunting task, but it means either hiring Mac programmers or contracting the work out, which would probably cost tens of thousands of dollars. Given the market conditions, I'm not surprised that there is no Mac software.

  1. 0

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    12/11, 08:17am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Not more difficult

    What software development? Excite already had software! All they would have to do is change the interface.

  1. 0

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    12/11, 08:26am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Even more depressing..

    Even more depressing is that they won't be servicing Canada any more. I'm connected via T1 to UUNet (gotta love living within sight of of the office), so I don't really care, but surely it would have taken a company like Excite (who, might I add, already operates @Home up here, with the Toronto Area @Home plant being a fairly large installation) very little effort to continue servicing it's Canadian users.

    Of course, Canadian's love their Mac's quite a bit more then American's accordining to Apple's sales stats, so maybe it's a form of punishment. :)

    I'm not even gonna touch this issue with my real feelings on the matter though.

    Later,

    D

  1. 0

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    12/11, 08:38am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Honesty, please

    I understand that they may have there reasons for no longer supporting the Mac, no matter what they may be, but citing "circumstances beyond our control" is a poor excuse. The circumstances are entirely within their control, and they know it. It is an insult to our intelligence that they expect us to buy this line.

  1. 0

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    12/11, 09:01am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Netsetter

    I ran across this website which appears to support the Mac with the following statement on their FAQ page, "If you use another operating system (Linux, Mac OS, etc.) you must run Netscape 4.0 or above." I have not checked it out myself so I cannot verify this. Just thought others might want to look...

    https://www.netsetter.com/

    Michael

  1. 0

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    12/11, 09:17am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Netsetter

    This site is NOT an ISP, free or otherwise. You still need an ISP. This company purports to make your internet connection "faster" because of their fast servers and caching strategies. I'm dubious of their claims. They also want a lot of personal information about your household. Caveat Emptor!

  1. 0

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    12/11, 09:46am | report spam | Reply | delete

    re Netsetter

    Pointless first of all to point us to the secure page - you can get the same rubbish at the page without https://
    Essentially a "let us watch you surf" deal which claims it'll run faster. But you still have to stay with your own ISP.
    Verdict: Michael, whether wittingly or not, that was spam. Please don't.

    (Obtopic: as a UK occasional visitor to the US I'm sorry to see Freelane go. It was useful - rather than having to sign up for a US ISP, I could just dial in. The ads were bearable.
    The UK, by having non-free local calls, has more ISPs than it should because so many can offer a zero-subscription service, no ads; you just pay the per-minute phone charge, of about 1p per minute.. equiv to 0.6c? per min.)
    Charles

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