Yahoo is taking aim at women and other people who have felt left out of the discussion.

Microsoft's real aim is to build and host a service platform that will be robust enough that other developers will want to use it to deliver their services through it.

Ad-supported software for consumers and very small businesses is only the beginning. Microsoft's real aim is to build and host a service platform that will attract the investment of developers looking for a way to reach these market sectors.

Despite the struggles of its ISP arm, AOL.com is well positioned because of the number of users of AIM (AOL's Instant Messaging) and the strength of its new online mail offering.