AOL has announced that it will be moving into the low-cost PC market (http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20040812_134125.html), with the introduction of a cheap AOL PC that comes bundled with dial-up Internet service and target especially those who "haven't bought their first computer yet." I didn't know people like that existed...

With 2GHz Celeron processor, 256MB of RAM and a 40GB HDD, the machines aren't exactly going to set the world on fire. But then, they don't need to.

Available soon, the machines will be priced at $300. There have, of course, been similar offers in the past (Linspire springs to mind) and the idea of bundling a PC with an ISP preloaded is not new. But its certainly a welcome step in bringing computing (and the internet) to more and more people.