The possible end of AOL.

[Dingo Jellybean]

http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=2555314

Not sure if many of you heard it, but AOL is leaving the broadband company, with 9 southern states affected until Jan 17th. I'm kind of surprised AOL would "give up" so easily. Granted, I much more prefer paying $30/month for broadband than AOL's $54/month...but their $24/month dialup service is absolutely overkill. Netzero charges $10/mo and I paid $8/mo before switching to DSL.

My local news station reports that AOL will move into the travel business, meaning all of it's dialup customers will eventually be left out in the cold. I'm not disappointed, I first got AOL in 1994, and I still remember how AOL 1.5 looked like...which is just scary. The service was undependable and charging twice as much for the same service as other competitors were charging was a no no. I remember when Netzero was free, they had a unblockable ad that was always on as you were connected to the internet, but there were scripts around to remove that. Netzero initially became unlimited, then it came down to 40 hours a month before you were disconnected. I still used it over AOL, even though at the time my mother was paying the AOL bill. Now fast forward about 5-6 years.

I still like Netzero and hope their dial-up service stays, as $10/mo is $240 less a year that I'm paying for DSL. I doubt AIM service will be affected, it's probably too popular to take down, and it's pretty profitable considering how many people use it and how much advertisers are willing to pay to display the ads.

[escobert]

Good. AOL is teh sux0r.

[Phil]

Which states is it excluding? And does that include instant messenger?

[saint35]

doesn't matter really cause aol dialup is slow like hell

[Baloki]

I claim victory on behalf of BAoTW, we have them where we want them guys, lets push north and finish them off, FOR ZEE MOTHERLAND! :D

[Dingo Jellybean]

The 9 southern states that are affected are Kentucky, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennesee, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

AOL will eventually ditch it's dial-up service, but as mentioned in my post...AIM should not be affected...it's too profitable to leave.

[Fate Fatale]

Awww. That sucks... I have AOL 9.0 SE broadband...

[DeBlayde]

know what else sux?









AOL.

[Fate Fatale]

Yes AOl has its low points, but is it costly for its features. Does IE have features like spam blocker, AIM stuff, chat rooms, search engines, timers, and parental controlls? Aol may suck, but it make up for it in features.

[Dingo Jellybean]

Yes AOl has its low points, but is it costly for its features. Does IE have features like spam blocker, AIM stuff, chat rooms, search engines, timers, and parental controlls? Aol may suck, but it make up for it in features.

Parental controls are offered by many broadband providers are significantly lower prices. Verizon, Earthlink, Adelphia, etc. IE does not carry popup blocking features(I don't know why), so you'll have to get a shell for IE...like Slimbrowser. You can go to www.download.com to get Slimbrowser. It's the best shell ever.

[escobert]

Or you can just use Firefox which has a popupblocker and such.

[Dingo Jellybean]

Or you can just use Firefox which has a popupblocker and such.

You can...but you know, Firefox kinda like...it's just that it's...well, actually it's...it sorta...sucks.

[Optium]

Haha, I always hear people complaining about popups and I laugh. I
haven't gotten a single one in years. Thank you Firefox/Mozilla/Opera. I
was hesitant to switch over because it seemed like people who used
alternate browsers were just talking out of their ass and promoting some
agenda that I couldn't figure out, but it really is so far superior to IE that
I wish I had switched earlier. Tabbed browsing doesn't seem like that big
of a deal until you use it....I can't browse without my tabs now! :excited:

Anyway, on the subject of AOL...the day AOL shuts down is the day I
dance in the street screaming 'TIS A GREAT DAY FOR THE INTERNET!



What the hell am I talking about?

.opt

[Kirobaito]

How long will it be before Dial-up is scrapped? Hopefully not long. I can finally ditch this hell.

[Jebus]

I claim victory on behalf of BAoTW, we have them where we want them guys, lets push north and finish them off, FOR ZEE MOTHERLAND! :D

Huzzah!

[Chibi Youkai]

You can...but you know, Firefox kinda like...it's just that it's...well, actually it's...it sorta...sucks.

No it does certainly not. Haven't gotten a popup since, which is just brilliant, compared AOL.

[theundeadhero]

My windows XP has a built in pop-up blocker which makes that entire argument null and void. Yay, internet explorer.

[Doomgaze]

Yes AOl has its low points, but is it costly for its features. Does IE have features like spam blocker, AIM stuff, chat rooms, search engines, timers, and parental controlls? Aol may suck, but it make up for it in features.

Leave it to an AOLer to act like IE is an ISP. You can get all those things, most of them free (as in beer and as in ideas) regardless of your ISP. I don't know why people want this bloat in their browsers. Even if you DID, like I said, there's nothing there that is exclusive to AOL.

[Peegee]

AOL's harm is already done. I could draw rather controversial parallels, but instead I'll just spam and say 'omfg aol gone lolol kekekeke'.

Though I doubt this will affect us in any actual way...which is sad because I want to celebrate some sort of victory :p

[nik0tine]

After all of the sh*t aol handed to me... Im glad they are shutting down. I don't ever want to see them profit again. That is of course, a ridiculous dream.

[Tokki Wartooth]

Thank God. I hope they take AIM with them too.

[escobert]

Thank God. I hope they take AIM with them too.
NOOOO! :cry:

[Shlup]

know what else sux?









AOL.
xD

h8 aol

[crono_logical]

Actually, I'd rather AOL wasn't shutting down - it means the large lower-intelligence Internet userbase won't be concentrated in one place any more making it harder to discriminate against them :D

[SomethingBig]

Does IE have features like spam blocker, AIM stuff, chat rooms, search engines, timers, and parental controlls? Aol may suck, but it make up for it in features.
You can always disable Javascript functions with IE. You can also get a better IM program(Trillian, which has AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, IRC, and something else on it and allows you to be signed on on all 4 at one time) in less than 5 minutes. Nay, less than 3 minutes. IE also has parental controls.

I did what Optium did and I switched to Mozilla and man am I glad. Greatest browser ever.

[Takara]

*brings out the torches and the pitchforks*

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURN AOL!

*cackles*

*eyeshift*

[Polaris]

is aol that bad?

[Lindy]

I've got to ask though, and how many of you have thought of this...

What will happen to all the 8-year old AOLer who assume they own the internet? Will they just go a name/brand shift and be ressurected as something else? Or was it AOL itself that caused their...problems?

Also, does anyone else remember when AOL was totally banned on #eoff?

Good times, good times

[Loony BoB]

Also, does anyone else remember when AOL was totally banned on #eoff?
Haha, yeah, I remember that. Wasn't it just AOL-jIRC users, though?

[crono_logical]

I'm sure it was all AOL, since I still have my #eoff script to auto-exempt certain AOL users :p

[DMKA]

Actually, I'd rather AOL wasn't shutting down - it means the large lower-intelligence Internet userbase won't be concentrated in one place any more making it harder to discriminate against them :D
XD

I despise AOL...not that I've ever used it, but because I've had to hear all the bitching about it since I got on the internet back in 1999 and because they're always sending me those goddamn "free" trial CDs (I have atleast 50 of those things). So if this means the end of free trial CDs then YAY!

I don't care if AIM goes away as long as all my buddies know my Yahoo! ID prior (or MSN). :D

[Glendon]

is aol that bad?

Yes. :p

[SetsuntaMew]

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!

This news has made my day. Seriously. I have pneumonia and it still made me happied ^_^

[Wuggly Blight]

Hurray! Its like the end of Shinra, or Umbrella or Microsoft! Does ANYONE like them? Im amazed they stayed around this long!

[SetsuntaMew]

Hurray! Its like the end of Shinra, or Umbrella or Microsoft! Does ANYONE like them? Im amazed they stayed around this long!

ShinRa rocks. Poo on you. But I could do with the ending of Microsoft. Macs all the way! *huggles her iBook*

[Wuggly Blight]

ALL evil corporation rocks, accept AOL and Mircosoft, but im horrid, evil and heartless.

[Psychotic]

I claim victory on behalf of BAoTW, we have them where we want them guys, lets push north and finish them off, FOR ZEE MOTHERLAND! :DI should godamned think so too, those flamethrowers cost enough. :greenie:

[escobert]

I should godamned think so too, those flamethrowers cost enough. :greenie:
I want one!

[Psychotic]

Here, take two!

http://mason.gmu.edu/~kbrancat/photos/smiley_flamethrower.gif http://mason.gmu.edu/~kbrancat/photos/smiley_flamethrower.gif

Take THAT, AOHell!

[escobert]

Yay! http://mason.gmu.edu/~kbrancat/photos/smiley_flamethrower.gif

[Super Christ]

You can count me in. I'll join any movement that gives me a flamethrower! So, what kind of benefits package does this revolution for zee motherland have?

[Baloki]

Ground based weapons and melee weapons are handed out freely :D

[Ouch!]

Death to AOL!


That is all.

[theundeadhero]

"Ding dong the witch is dead, which old witch, the wicked witch. Ding dong the wicked witch is dead!"

[Chibi Youkai]

Actually, I'd rather AOL wasn't shutting down - it means the large lower-intelligence Internet userbase won't be concentrated in one place any more making it harder to discriminate against them :D

No, thye'll probably just migrate to peoplepc online, so we can still descriminate them.

[Meat Puppet]

Poor buggers. Who are AOL?