They did predate the modern commercial internet. Commercial ISPs didn't appear till the late 80s (at best) and AOL started in ~81. In that context they're a weak example to cite.
AOL predates the modern commercial internet. Heck, the first HTTP spec came out 8 or so years after the company started and in the same year they named themselves America Online. Picking on them for not grokking the internet is a bit facile for my liking.