Is AOL a Bad Thing?

Our recommendation is to avoid AOL. You can use Internet Explorer just as easily as you can AOL. — The Chris Pirillo Show

Our recommendation is to avoid AOL. You can use Internet Explorer just as easily as you can AOL. — The Chris Pirillo Show

Good and funny, hehee

Not much into AOL at this point not only because its like a magnet for spam (I regularly get upwards to 1k per day!) but after moving to Toronto no one is really using it here. So it was time to join other networks. Like you Chris, I was an early adopter and AOL was THE social network to be in especially working (at that time) in San Francisco’s Media Gulch [I was even an AOL community sponsor]. Do I think there is still value in joining AOL? It depends. Depending on location, technical ability, usage requirements, etc. There are avid AOL users but also those who will join multiple networks or the ones who will always be early adopters at heart.

We are still using AOL and I still recommend it to folks who will not want to master what so many of us think is so easy: using standard browsers and e-mail clients. My wife and mother-in-law have been using AOL lo these many years and think using anything they would have to “learn all over” would be just plain stupid and a waste of time. They both sell puppies over the internet. They know how to use AOL and think anything more complicated is backward. “If it was any good it would be as easy as AOL.”

We are still using AOL and I still recommend it to folks who will not want to master what so many of us think is so easy: using standard browsers and e-mail clients. My wife and mother-in-law have been using AOL lo these many years and think using anything they would have to “learn all over” would be just plain stupid and a waste of time. They both sell puppies over the internet. They know how to use AOL and think anything more complicated is backward. “If it was any good it would be as easy as AOL.”

It’s only a bad thing if you use it (like IE).

It’s only a bad thing if you use it (like IE).

I actually started using AOL way back in 1997, after not having much sucess with CompuServe (anybody even remember them, let alone how funky they were?), and I stuck with AOL all these years just to keep my primary email account active, eventually switched to a local ISP for cheaper dialup, and even after paying AOL their cheapest $4.95 rate plan, still paid less overall than AOL’s full price, finally stopping paying for them completely once I went to DSL, which was about the same time they created the free email accounts they now offer.

Back in the early dial up days, their modems were horrendously overloaded most evenings, now their service is obscenely overpriced, and they wonder why they have always had such high (paying) account turnover numbers. The free email isn’t too bad to use, once the spam filters learn your preferences, and it is handy to use their software for saving and writing your emails, I just totally ignore anything else they hawk, except for some of the cooler news items of interest.

AOL to me has always seemed like the internet with training wheels for the newbies, I’m not ashamed to admit it, we all had to start somewhere…

AOL was the first ISP I used, basically because it was trialware installed on the hp PC we bought in 1999. I remember having to put up with being dropped at least a couple of times each day — sometimes in the midst of long downloads. Finally, the last straw was when I was kicked off 7 or 8 times one Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, we had just paid the second month’s subscription charge, so I had to wait another 4 weeks to rid myself of them. I installed MSN (at the time, $4 or $5/month less expensive), and to the best of my recollection, in the 2 years we had it, I was never kicked off. In 2001 I subscribed to RoadRunner. I would never recommend AOL, and if you read any of Fred Langa’s experiences, no savvy internet geek ever would.

lol, my friend Cody’s mom used to get many many AOL CD’s and she kept using them then cancelling them when the free trial ended then using the next CD, thus getting free internet access! lol

My recommendation is on chris’s side. dont event try AOL. i tried it hated everything it did and got rid of it. the problem then was that most the problems it caused in my system were still there. so i instead of going into core files and all that to reconfigure everything (cuz in lazy), i just reformated my computer and got everything the way i liked it and all was good. But for all that trouble, DON’T TRY IT!

I’ve been using AOL software with all my computers since 1998 and currently using AOL 9.0vr (Vista Ready). I love AOL and I’ll keep using AOL as long as they’re in business.

Also, AOL email is probably the best email service I’ve ever used. I don’t care for Yahoos, the Gmails or the Hotmails. AOL email is straightforward and easy to use.

It’s ok seeing the many that love AOL.But have you ever went through the hell of canceling service?The shameless begging.Then being put on hold to come back and beg some more?The Aol mail is ok.But the price is just to much to pay for dialup.People can get dsl cheaper.I’am really surprise they still in business.But for the ones that like the service it’s cool.But who want dialup these days.Only if you cant get broadband in the area you live.Because price is really not a option any more.