Why bother...

Post #25,241 by bepatient 1/23/02 8:14:09 AM Reply	Why bother... ...because you are associating loudmouths (in netspeak) and a couple of personal issues to the experience of MILLIONS of people. You don't get to be that big without 1) some people having a bad go of it 2) other people taking shots at you and 3) some technical issues that don't compromise user integrity that are not important enough to fix. ISP's are a dime a dozen. Most of them are significantly less expensive than AOL. Don't give me this "McDonald's" syndrome to explain it. Unfortunately for your argument...I happen to know ALOT of people who >actually like< AOL. And as Peter has pointed out...AOL has proven to be nothing other than a very strong financial supporter of open source projects. You were born...and so you're free...so Happy Birthday! _{Laurie Anderson} [link\|mailto:bepatient@aol.com\|BePatient]
Post #25,274 by nking 1/23/02 1:05:56 PM Reply	Oh really? 1. Some people having a bad go at it? 2. Other people taking shots at you. 3. Tech issues not important enough to fix. Explain Coca Cola, they are big, yet I don't see people taking pot shots at them, or telling them to change their secret formula. They have a much larger customer base than AOL. true, they are not a tech company, but they are really that darn big. It is more than just a few people having a bad go at it, trust me. Like the wife of an abusive husband, they stay with them even if they are mistreated. A friend of mine left AOL 8 months ago, and went to Earthlink. Earthlink was much better than AOL, cost less, gave him a free Web Cam, and never once bounced his email or cut off his Internet surfing. Yet he returned to AOL. Why? His wife complained that she didn't have that AOL screen when the Internet popped up. She wanted that look and feel, she didn't want Mozilla or IE as her browser, she wanted the AOL one. Why? Because she was used to it, and she didn't want to learn something new. So sometimes the email I send to him bounces or never gets there. Shtty service, but easy to use. Focus on the Easy to use part. If someone wrote an easy to use Client and Server software that any ISP could use, it might take some of the business away from AOL. Many people use AOL because they don't have to use their brain or think in order to use the AOL custom software. The dumbing down of the USA made it possible. "Will code Visual BASIC for cash."*
Post #25,291 by drewk 1/23/02 1:36:49 PM Reply	AOL keeps changing His wife complained that she didn't have that AOL screen when the Internet popped up. She wanted that look and feel, she didn't want Mozilla or IE as her browser, she wanted the AOL one. Why? Because she was used to it, and she didn't want to learn something new. Microsoft has gotten away with this same piece of FUD. "I don't want to learn anything new." Well, besides the fact that that's pretty sad to begin with, AOL and MS have both changed their interfaces several times, and people keep learning them. Did your friend try setting the IE homepage to Yahoo? They have categories that match many of the AOL ones. Oh, or did you mean she liked the specific channels that AOL has? She likes their choice of movie reviews. She likes their selection of travel options. That's AOL's market research doing it's job the exact right way. Find out what people want and give it to them. AOL isn't really "easier". It's just more familiar. Whenever someone asks me how to do or find something on AOL, I have no idea. It takes me twice as long to do it that way as Googling for it. We have to fight the terrorists as if there were no rules and preserve our open society as if there were no terrorists. -- [link\|http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/05/opinion/BIO-FRIEDMAN.html\|Thomas Friedman]
Post #25,329 by bepatient 1/23/02 4:42:27 PM Reply	Really Same issue with my wife. Taught her how to search...set up portal...the whole nine yards. Bottom line...AOL has >content< that others don't. She likes that content and the way its structured. 9 years for me Norm. 7 screen names. No mail issues. No security issues. My username has never been compromised. (knock wood). I have as many friends that use AOL and like it as you have that don't. That boils down to personal preference. Irrespective of that...there is still nothing but a positive track record between AOL and open source software....so you may not like them...but they've donated time and talent to projects that >you< like. You were born...and so you're free...so Happy Birthday! _{Laurie Anderson} [link\|mailto:bepatient@aol.com\|BePatient]
Post #25,404 by nking 1/23/02 11:25:22 PM Reply	What can AOL provide that you cannot find on the Net somewhere else? Like was said, many of us just use Google or some other search engine. We don't need our steak to be cut up into tiny pieces for us, we can do it ourselves. I am sorry that you cannot see AOL for the company that it is. "Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
Post #25,406 by bepatient 1/23/02 11:46:07 PM Reply	Don't be sorry... ...no need. I don't agree with you...and your opinion is not TRUTH. AOL is a media company. There is ALOT of content that is specific to AOL. It is arranged well. You like to google. Fine. My friend likes to sign on and click once. Works for him. He's actually very computer and net savvy. You have a disdain...he has a preference. His preference is shared by a whole lotta people...whether you like it or not. You were born...and so you're free...so Happy Birthday! _{Laurie Anderson} [link\|mailto:bepatient@aol.com\|BePatient]
Post #25,409 by nking 1/23/02 11:56:03 PM Reply	whether you like it or not my disdain is shared by a whole lotta people as well. Many of whom are Ex-AOL users. What media exists that you can only get on AOL? That is like saying I like the Cable Company because I can get local channels on it with just a click of the remote. Sure but you can also get the same media from an antenna. Want the same program channels as Cable but don't want to pay the high prices? Get satellite TV! I suppose that AOL shows CNN stories that are not viewable from cnn.com or the CNN news channel on cable and satellite systems? Or maybe they have the same, but AOL integrates the story in the same Window that you read your email from? I still do not understand what the big deal over AOL is that 100 million people want to use it. These must be the same people who keep electing the idiots into office that I never vote for? :) "Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
Post #25,480 by wharris2 1/24/02 12:46:27 PM Reply	Re: What can AOL provide that you cannot find on the Net Back when I used Compuserve, they provided a number of reasonably civil (sometimes moderated) forums and chat areas that you can't usually find on Usenet or IRC. I suppose AOL has a similar setup. Internet discussion group places like ziwethey are few and far between. Trying to discuss stuff on Slashdot? Hah. Kuro5hin? Almost as bad. "Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it." -- Donald Knuth
Post #25,600 by nking 1/24/02 5:32:06 PM Reply	Oh really? Mark Two. You mean like Ezboard? :) But anyway if AOL has forums, tons of other websites have forums that can just as easily be used. Even if AOL forums may not be accessable by the web, someone else already provides the same services elsewhere. Does AOL provide moderation of forums? This is something that Ezboard and Yahoo lack, they let the script kiddies, lamers, spammers, and other evil doers take control of the forums/clubs. Usually it is up to founders or forum owners to clean them up, but very few actually do. Some just create the forum or club and then leave. "Will code Visual BASIC for cash."

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