Actually, they did do something good for the Internet world. Remember that they made it the standard to charge people for access to the internet instead of charging per minute. Several smaller ISP's had the idea first, but AOL took it mainstream and did it nationwide.
This of course was humanities first encounter with busy signals and paying for service you can't actually connect to, but hey, at least they had decent intentions...:D
-kalle
Re:Glory days
by
LucidityZero
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
AOL is to computer culture what Little Boy was to Hiroshima.
Oh, come on! I hear stuff like this constantly, and it's just complete and total BS.
Sure, I kinda miss the days when "The Internet" was "our" thing. But you have to realize that is already over. So stop dwelling on it.
In the mean time, the Internet-boom happened. And overall this has been a good thing. It was provided us with wonderful conveniences (like web-retailers), wonderful innovations (like Java), wonderful social impact (Instant Messaging and being able to email even your grandparents in Europe), and holds in store plenty of new possibilities. We have IPv6 around the corner, imbedded systems are popping up everywhere, and wireless technologies are ushering in a whole new era of connectivity.
Without companies like AOL, we may have never seen the explosion that we have seen, and concepts that we now take for granted that enrich our lives every day may have never seen light.
We all get nostalgic sometimes, but don't go belitteling a company for "ruining" the internet as you are attempting to imply, when they may very well have been one of the most important players period in the construction of what many of us now base much of our lives around.
-- Sig.i>
Did AOL Cause The Dotcom Depression?
by
Babbster
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
As I was reading the article (something few so far seem to have done), it was mentioned that the goal of AOL Business Affairs was to get as much of the venture capital possessed by a potential "partner" as possible. This makes me wonder if, even more than poorly thought-out ideas, fancy chairs and expensive office space, AOL caused - or at least hastened - the end of the dotcom boom. If they were siphoning ridiculous amounts of money out of these new companies before they even got their businesses moving, there would clearly be little left to actually make the businesses work. While association with AOL could be an asset, wouldn't losing a third or more of the available start-up capital making the AOL deal have given executives pause?
I'd be curious to see some figures on how much of the aforementioned venture capital AOL managed to scoop up during the boom and what percentage of the total VC spent on Internet startups that number represents.
Of course, this doesn't change the fact that if people were busted out because of AOL it means the executives of the busted company were making bad decisions...but it might make even happier those on the sidelines (particularly those who got out of AOL/TW stock before the bottom dropped out and those who AOL squeezed out of business) who are now watching AOL seemingly reap what it sowed.
Chat with the Author
by
jkeyes
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I don't know if anyone else noticed this but there is going to be a chat with the author at 1 PM EDT Monday. It'll be at http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/zforum/03/r_maga zine_klein061603.htm
Damn, and to think I had the 'blloyd@aol.com' addy
by
CatOne
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
No numbers about it.
I outgrew it in 1993. It was before the intArweb and everythin'!
Strange to believe that in '99 people would give away so much money to AOL... guess that was before Google.
AOL is not the internet
by
gad_zuki!
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
>In the mean time, the Internet-boom happened.
Yet, dial-up at that time could be had for 5.95 or if there wasn't much competition in your neighborhood at the time 9.95 or so while AOL wanted double that. AOL does not equal the internet-boom. They're an ISP second and a content/service provider first.
From my experience, cheap local dial-ups helped get most of the non-techies on the net a lot more than AOL and its other proprietary cousins. These non-techies fired up a browser and were off - excitied by the prospect of this web thing and email, while AOL people safely hid in their controlled chat-rooms and paid per-minute charges.
Sure the non-AOLers had to actually spend five minutes talking to tech-support to setup their modems and email clients but at least they learned a little about how their computers and modems worked, as opposed to being stuck with some proprietary software that didnt really deliver the goods regarding easy easy use until much later versions.
Now, these non-techies are somewhat savvy tech consumers and surprisingly handy with a computer and have long since moved on to broadband, while the AOL people I remember are still there on a beater 486 and still getting ripped off.
Not exactly a scientific study, but lets not overestimate AOL's influence. Those mysterious "http" things on movie commercials, that Netscape thing people keep talking about, and not having an answer to the question "Whats your email address" were probably the biggest factors in getting people online, not a voice saying, "You've got mail!"
What most people won't know:
by
Andre+Breton
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
There once was a very small company called Quantum Computer Services, running an online service for users with Commodore machines. Then there was another company called Apple who had an online service for its employees and dealers called "AppleLink", which was all graphical interface and real easy to use. They wanted something like that for the general public and thought about buying Quantum. But then they decided to go joint venture. When Apple got reorganized (something they did on a monthly basis in these days...) they decided to drop AppleLink and instead payed Quantum to finish the Mac beta and market it under their own name. 1991 Quantum was renamed AOL and put the software on the market not only for Mac but Windows too.
Then Apple changed their mind and payed AOL money to use their code (which they kinda financed before...) for a new Apple online service called eWorld. (This was before the cool prefix was the "i") eWorld got online 1994 Mac only. It was shipped in the end of 1995 with every Mac (?...) and closed in March 1996 because the world in the mid 90s needed another online service as much as (insert what you want here).
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, they did do something good for the Internet world. Remember that they made it the standard to charge people for access to the internet instead of charging per minute. Several smaller ISP's had the idea first, but AOL took it mainstream and did it nationwide.
:D
This of course was humanities first encounter with busy signals and paying for service you can't actually connect to, but hey, at least they had decent intentions...
-kalle
Oh, come on! I hear stuff like this constantly, and it's just complete and total BS.
Sure, I kinda miss the days when "The Internet" was "our" thing. But you have to realize that is already over. So stop dwelling on it.
In the mean time, the Internet-boom happened. And overall this has been a good thing. It was provided us with wonderful conveniences (like web-retailers), wonderful innovations (like Java), wonderful social impact (Instant Messaging and being able to email even your grandparents in Europe), and holds in store plenty of new possibilities. We have IPv6 around the corner, imbedded systems are popping up everywhere, and wireless technologies are ushering in a whole new era of connectivity.
Without companies like AOL, we may have never seen the explosion that we have seen, and concepts that we now take for granted that enrich our lives every day may have never seen light.
We all get nostalgic sometimes, but don't go belitteling a company for "ruining" the internet as you are attempting to imply, when they may very well have been one of the most important players period in the construction of what many of us now base much of our lives around.
Sig.i>
I'd be curious to see some figures on how much of the aforementioned venture capital AOL managed to scoop up during the boom and what percentage of the total VC spent on Internet startups that number represents.
Of course, this doesn't change the fact that if people were busted out because of AOL it means the executives of the busted company were making bad decisions...but it might make even happier those on the sidelines (particularly those who got out of AOL/TW stock before the bottom dropped out and those who AOL squeezed out of business) who are now watching AOL seemingly reap what it sowed.
I don't know if anyone else noticed this but there is going to be a chat with the author at 1 PM EDT Monday. It'll be at http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/zforum/03/r_maga zine_klein061603.htm
No numbers about it. I outgrew it in 1993. It was before the intArweb and everythin'! Strange to believe that in '99 people would give away so much money to AOL... guess that was before Google.
>In the mean time, the Internet-boom happened.
Yet, dial-up at that time could be had for 5.95 or if there wasn't much competition in your neighborhood at the time 9.95 or so while AOL wanted double that. AOL does not equal the internet-boom. They're an ISP second and a content/service provider first.
From my experience, cheap local dial-ups helped get most of the non-techies on the net a lot more than AOL and its other proprietary cousins. These non-techies fired up a browser and were off - excitied by the prospect of this web thing and email, while AOL people safely hid in their controlled chat-rooms and paid per-minute charges.
Sure the non-AOLers had to actually spend five minutes talking to tech-support to setup their modems and email clients but at least they learned a little about how their computers and modems worked, as opposed to being stuck with some proprietary software that didnt really deliver the goods regarding easy easy use until much later versions.
Now, these non-techies are somewhat savvy tech consumers and surprisingly handy with a computer and have long since moved on to broadband, while the AOL people I remember are still there on a beater 486 and still getting ripped off.
Not exactly a scientific study, but lets not overestimate AOL's influence. Those mysterious "http" things on movie commercials, that Netscape thing people keep talking about, and not having an answer to the question "Whats your email address" were probably the biggest factors in getting people online, not a voice saying, "You've got mail!"
Then Apple changed their mind and payed AOL money to use their code (which they kinda financed before...) for a new Apple online service called eWorld. (This was before the cool prefix was the "i") eWorld got online 1994 Mac only. It was shipped in the end of 1995 with every Mac (?...) and closed in March 1996 because the world in the mid 90s needed another online service as much as (insert what you want here).