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. Sh*tty 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.