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AOL 6.0 Client: We'll Be Your Home Page, Thanks

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the bobbing-for-eyeballs dept.

Masem writes: "According to this story at CNet, the latest version of AOL 6.0's Web browser does not allow the user to set a home page, nor click on a button to go to the home page. Instead, the user is forced to start up through AOL's start page. AOL claims this was an aesthetic move prompted by user input, but many are crying foul in light of the proposed TW/AOL merger; such a move gives AOL too much of an edge on content control. At least they could have left such a change in an advanced dialog box for experienced users ..."

3 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. ``All the more reason to avoid AOL, I guess." by llywrch · · Score: 5

    Once upon a time, I used to be an AOL customer. Then their service got worse (this was after the 5er's hacker attack), & after a few years I moved on.

    With that in mind, I have to share probably the most perceptive words on AOL ever written. From Michael Wolff's book, _Burn_Rate_:

    ``I never wanted to do a deal with AOL. At best, AOL just watered down the experience of the Internet and network technology; at worst, it was in some other business -- it was a direct marketing organization, infomercial shit.
    ``I never knew anybody who took AOL seriously as an Internet company.
    ``I never knew an AOL customer who didn't feel seriously abused by AOL.
    ``I never knew an AOL information provider who didn't feel that AOL was about to start turning the screws.
    ``I never knew an AOL executive who didn't think he or she was playing a part in a very serious shell game that, ideally, would end in an acquisition of AOL by a reputable company.
    ``I never knew anybody who really wanted to work for AOL, located in true Nowheresville, Virginia."

    Wolff wrote this in 1998, long after I left AOL. from what I've heard & read, AOL has gone even further downhill.

    Geoff

    --
    I think I see a trend here. Maybe for them it really would be easier to muzzle the entire internet than to produce p
  2. Experienced Users ? by EtherSnoot · · Score: 5


    Experienced Users use AOL ???

    -Snoot

  3. It's their choice. by Xandu · · Score: 5

    I don't like AOL. Never have. However, if they want to take away the user settable home page button on their own browser, then why should we (non-AOL users) complain?

    Of course, if you are an AOL user, then complain (if it bothers you), or use a different browser to surf the web. If you think that AOL will now have too much control over where you visit, then stop paying for their service, get a different ISP.


    --Xandu

    --


    --Xandu