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Microsoft Eyeing AOL?
meriksen writes "This article on the CNN website suggests that Microsoft is looking to acquire AOL. What are the chances and do /. readers think this will ever happen?" The NY Post story is slightly more informative.
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Besides having to sell over Netscape (I think I have $10 here...) wouldn't there be a problem with Microsoft's existing deals with Comcast?
Well, when they deny like that, what additional proof does anyone need that this is pretty much a done deal?
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Microsoft eyeing AOL? Sounds like they would make strange bedpartners for a few reasons I can think of; The Microsoft Butterfly seems to market directly to the AOL mentality, which many of you know to be among those who use "The Internet" to find out things, download music and chat ("The Internet" being the AOL homepage!)...
:-)
While I may think AOL is too big for Microsoft to acquire and manage properly, that's just my opinion and it's likely incorrect, as Bill Gates is an iron leader of a huge corporate empire, with the Midas touch, and elite backing that gives anyone with that much money a guarantee of acquiring even more. What is more interesting than all the market'spaek, is that Time/Warner wants to dump AOL... and for this I am not surprised, while the article is more along the lines of Microsoft wanting to get their greedy hands on AOL, any objective observation would lead one to ponder if AOL is having trouble, or projected trouble? Whenever I have ever sold a car, it wasn't because I wanted some schmo from the public to get my super amazing car and benefit from it; it was because the car was old and I didn't want it anymore.
'Nuff said.
could be very very bad... Say goodbye to AIM!
Although it could happen, I'm sure a monopoly the size of MS could never be allowed to acquire the media behemoth of AOL TW. (Who own a helluva lot of media...CNN has a lot of mindshare, and if they're acquired there could well be problems with impartiality, like NBC and GE.)
I'm amazing. You aren't. SUCK IT
But then I thought of the combined cluelesness of AOL and Microsoft support combined. Be afraid.
Gnusay -- for all your talking gnu needs.
AOL builds horrible, buggy software. So does Microsoft. They are a perfect fit!
America Online acquired Netscape Communications $4.2 billion dollars in 1998 ...
RFC1925
If this happens: Would they assimiliate AIM into MSN? Or would they ditch it? IMHO they would assimiliate into their network so they don't loose the huge user base AIM has. SirG3
while(1)
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Ah, the story of life.
Oh what a great couple that would make. I always knew there was something strange about this spring time...
On the other hand, this might also have its advantages. We wouldn't have to be anti MS AND anti AOL anymore because it would be just one thing or one enemy less.
It's like the Borg assimilating the forces of darkness from the Lord of the Rings.
www.samuraidreams.com - My Blog
www.samuraifiles.com - Get Some Videos Here
You mean they don't own them already?
Unfortunately, this makes excellent sense for Microsoft. When they put together MSN around 1994, it was obvious that they were trying to get in on this action. MSN never succeeded in terms of its weak user base.
Microsoft already has the cash on hand, and AOL Time Warner stock has dropped about 75% since the merger was completed.
This suggests that they're only trying to acquire AOL, not AOL Time Warner - so this wouldn't be the complete media content delivery yadda yadda that they want. However, AOL has a large subscriber base and serves as an awesome potential outlet for Microsoft's content.
But is it a scary thought? Oh hell yes.
-m.
Megacorporation TimeWarner (formerly AOL Timewarner) is eager to divest itself of the lagging AOL brand. This megamerger was a disaster for consumers (as all mergers are) as well as the interested parties, e.g., the capitalist shareholders.
Microsoft would make an equally odius partner to combine with AOL. Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas...
Stop corporate
This is typical Microsoft behavior. MSN has always been meant to be an AOL-killer, but despite having the Microsoft promotions machine behind it, they've never come close to defeating AOL. If you can't beat 'em, try to buy 'em.
Now I'll get viruses on a disc through the mail.
Surely this wouldn't even get past first base with regulators in the US or EU??
This'd be tied up in courts for years. I mean, I know they're in different markets (excluding MSN), but given that Microsoft ARE convicted monopolists, this just wouldn't get approval.
Microsoft surely can't be that stupid........can they??
At least if MS acquires AOL it will pretty much be vulnerable to monopoly claims on a whole new basis.
I think this is a great idea! Microsoft's reputation with AOL's reputation.
Who knew the jokes would be this easy.
On a more serious note: The sad thing about this really is how bad AOL has managed the last 4 or 5 years. At least Microsoft will be able to recognize the value of AOL more tha T-W did.
Ted
Fantasy remains a human right; we make in our measure and in our derivative mode... -- JRR Tolkien
Well. thats one more instant messaging protocol off the list.
Not to sure about the netscape stuff being affected... its just a useless portal now, and iirc AOL let the mozilla coders go a while back, hence the mozilla foundation.
A-IMSOL.
(read each letter individually)
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
ZDnet has a similar blurb.
One of AOL's greatest strengths at the moment is the fact that it has easy access to the TV, movie, music, and magazine content empire that is Time Warner. Microsoft just doesn't have as large of a content machine.
This is important because AOL's not really just an ISP anymore. Many people who have a fully functional ISP connection are still paying AOL just for it's boatload of exclusive content. AOL without the Time Warner content base would look something like MSN, and just not have as many members as it has now.
Any MS-AOL would need to license more content than it would have in house. AOL's worth more inside a media company than it is inside Microsoft, I can't see how this deal makes sense.
I think it's a great match since any software from both companies attempt to take over your system. I'm tired of deleting the Try AOL Risk Free shortcuts -- if they join forces -- I'm screwed!
SPAM solution made easy: 1 spammer, 5 cords of rope, 5 hourses, and fireworks. Be creative.
Look at it this way, instead of talking trash about AOL or MS you can kill two birds with one stone!
Watch when they come out with AOLWindows 15.0, so easy your dead grandmother can use it.
So if this goes through, Microsoft will have most of the browser market, MSN, all four railroads, the most popular OS software, the most popular office suite, Boardwalk, Park Place and AOL?
Long live the Free Parking^WSoftware movement, I guess.
If Microsoft succeeds in buying AOL-TimeWarner, they will be an even more huge-ass gigantic company. I think the regulators might have a real problem with that...
Microsoft would probably integrate a form of AOL's IM directly into the OS, therefore elimating any chance for other IM's to come into the market. This probably would not fly with the gov.
That is all.
I wonder if that would have to be shed from the deal.. or maybe the mapping services are too small to be noticed by anti-trust. Eric The Magazine for MapPoint
http://www.mp2kmag.com
If this goes through they should substitute Earth for America for the very apt EOL moniker
Help fight continental drift.
I don't know what the profitability forecast is like for AOL, but surely Microsoft would do better to play up MSN than to sink the money into a competitor that is already losing ground to cable and telecom companies.
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
Besides having to sell over Netscape (I think I have $10 here...) wouldn't there be a problem with Microsoft's existing deals with Comcast?
What problem would that be? Nothing really prevents Comcast and Time Warner Cable from merging if that's what they wanted to do, since there's no place in which the two cable companies compete with each other.
It would be a huge deal, for sure. Not very likely in my opinion, despite the market action that I'd love to get in on.
I can only imagine the havoc that would ensue if Microsoft decided to ditch AOL's user interface in favor of their own. I know a lot of AOL users who are hopeless dependant on that interface. I'd guess that Microsoft would merely re-brand the AOL software in liu of deploying their own MSN-style software.
Nothing but the finest in meaningless drivel
I've done business with AOL for the past few years. Everytime I visit the AOL campus there is always talks of micro$oft buying them out. There were even talking about it when they merged with Time Warner. Stating that TW would spin off AOL for auction. Nothing really has changed much over the past few months to really push this deal through anytime soon.
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. --Edmund Burke
Mozilla goes bye bye, xmms gets sued for copying winamp, winamp comes standard on every system, but will only play wma, It would really be hell.
Why not? They've already proven themselves immune to anti-trust concerns and netscape got the official ax a little bit back. AOL customers are already used to prorietary software and versions of their search and browse capabilities. They're used to prepackaged experiences and very high amounts of ISP marketing.
AOL is a black mark on Time Warner, and they would love to get rid of it. This would vastly increase MS penenatration in the broadband markets and they can expand their strict policies on what can get on the Internet. MS has the cash, AOL has the customers of the type they so desperately want. It's a marraige made in hell. I predict this goes through.
"If this happens: Would they assimiliate AIM into MSN?"
Of course they will. And resistance is futile. All AOL's Base Are Belong to MSN.
It'll take an antitrust ruling to kill this, because MS probably likes the idea of getting all thos AOL users (and IM users, too). For us Linux AIM users, heh, better hope Jabber spreads....
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
Putting together hotmail, MSN, and AOL will create the largest newbie base on the Internet. I can forsee these users contracting tons of viruses and comprimised machines to be used form spamming. Luckiliy, with that many people the spammers will spam them and leave the rest of us alone. However, with all those newbies, it would be a huge chance for Microsoft to propogate thier propaganda to those most nieve.
--
Click here for tons of deals from all the major deal sites. Updated in real-time.
Satan eyes Cthulhu, details at 11...
--trb
I can't get enough of dialup and direct marketing.
Maybe no more of those aol cd's everywhere. I won't be able to roof my house anymore.
performance decline due to digital piracy? What's next? Newspaper readership declining due to ignorant reporting?
At this point Microsoft is only ever going to die the way the fat-man in the restaurant sketch in the Python's Meaning of Life, i.e. gluttony. I believe that the best thing that could of ever of happened to Microsoft, and every computer using consumer on the planet, would have been for them to split their OS division. But the way they are set-up now, one poison pill can make the entire organism sick. Knowing how AOL is run, the only reasonable course of action would be to shut it all down and switch them over to MSN otherwise it's a tar baby they won't be able to get unstuck from.
I'm all for Microsoft getting as big as possible. That way people will know, in lump fashion, what technology to avoid and obviously see the benefits of the alternatives. Also, at some point Microsoft is going to compete with more and more businesses - if you are a competitor, even tangentially, with Microsoft - would you trust 100% a company as aggressive as Microsoft to be the technology foundation of your business?
-_-
When we think of a rival for AOL, who do we think of mostly? MSN, of course. When AOL launched their prized High-Speed DSL service, who was next to follow and stayed right behind them? MSN. Now wouldn't you see some little "defeating competition" problem in there somewhere?
Just wait until we hear from the DOJ. If they wouldn't let Oracle purchase PeopleSoft, they sure as hell had not better let this happen.
In the better case, if they somehow do purchase it, it's pretty hard to say what would happen to it. After all, AOL is pretty unstable by itself alone... much less with Microsoft tinkering with it.
"Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher
Let's just consolidate evil in one spot.
Bill G pretty much already owns SCO -- if MS and AOL merge, Slashdot will just need one "It's Evil. Laugh" icon for all three.
Hmm.... then we can put Apple, Java, and BSD under one "Yup, It's STILL dying" icon.
I'm not normally an irrational zealous dickhead, but I figure "When in Rome..."
I note the EU had a disagreement with Microsoft. Does this mean an eventual purchase of Europe by the Redmond Conglomerate? So when is Bill Gates getting his reserved seat on the UN Security Council?
- Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
if you can't beat em buy em
score 0
This kinda thing always reminds me of this quote:
"When deep space exploration ramps up, it will be corporations that name everything: The IBM Stellar Sphere. The Microsoft Galaxy. Planet Starbucks."
-Valiss
I've been using it off and on for a while, with a few friends. If Microsoft buys AOL, then I'm never going to use AIM again. The time to open instant messaging is well overdue. And I really don't want to see what happens to IM when Microsoft completely controls it.
I really, really, really hope this is nothing more then a rumor, but the Time Warner exec could simply be denying it to prevent users from switching to MSN until the deal is finalized.
AOL also owns Nullsoft, and winamp. Losing the only decent media player for windows would suck for alot of people who are 'forced' to run windows.
"The United States has no right, no desire, and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else." - Bush 05
This would solve all the problems for spam in the world today.
* ^From.+(aol|msn).com
beautiful!
As Time Warner mulls what to do with its America Online division, the potential buyer on the minds of the company's executives is tech giant Microsoft, The Post has learned.
Time Warner executives have held discussions in recent months with Microsoft about a potential sale of AOL, The Post has learned.
In addition, Time Warner lawyers have begun analyzing any potential antitrust issues from such a deal, and to date their conclusion is that there would be few roadblocks to a Microsoft acquisition of AOL, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Time Warner spokesman Ed Adler said "such speculation is silly and pointless," and wouldn't comment further. A Microsoft spokesperson declined comment.
Sources say the deal being discussed within Time Warner would include Microsoft paying cash plus the assumption of debt to acquire AOL. A possible investment by Microsoft in Time Warner Cable has also been considered, sources say. Microsoft previously invested $1 billion in Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, and owns about 7 percent of that company.
Time Warner and Microsoft are already deep in discussions about ways to use Microsoft technology in Time Warner's content businesses, and discussions about a deal for AOL emanated from those talks, sources say.
As first reported by The Post this week, Time Warner is stepping up efforts to consider alternatives for AOL. Its bankers at Goldman Sachs are putting together a proposal for the division, which could include a sale, spin-off or radical restructuring of the business.
Sources close to Parsons insist that no deal is imminent and that the review of AOL is only in its early stages. But Parsons himself appears especially eager to pursue a deal with Microsoft, according to a source.
Although AOL is in the midst of a high-profile investigation into its accounting practices and is seeing a decline in subscriber rolls, the division generated $1 billion in free cash flow last year and is expected to chip in another $1.5 billion in free cash flow this year.
This sets AOL apart from its former sister division, Warner Music, which was recently sold off amid a steep decline in its performance due to digital piracy.
Some sources say that Time Warner may yet hold onto AOL and hope for a rebound.
Next month, AOL CEO Jonathan Miller will present an update on the business to Time Warner's board of directors. Miller came aboard in August 2002, after the launch of an SEC probe into AOL's accounting, and was charged with stabilizing the business.
While subscribers continue to flee, Miller has met most of his quarterly targets and stabilized the division's cash flow.
Microsoft, meanwhile, has long coveted AOL - it tried to buy the company years ago, before the AOL-Time Warner merger.
A deal would add AOL's 24 million subscribers to the 9 million at Microsoft's own online network, MSN.
remember who's in the White House... So correct... what Bush et al has done is basically setup an oligarchy and removed the democratic underpinnings that USED to be in the constitution. The growth of a company will soon be "good for the country"... and when M$ gets AOHell they will make SURE that ONLY their software will be able to interface with their services.
I call computer-illiteracy job security
"You've got a BlueScreen!"
I just can't wait until AOL is built into windows.
The worlds worst and biggets software maker, owing the worlds largest and worst online service..
Controlling the majority of desktop installs, and your content...
Lets hope the FTC would block such a merger.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I dont have a problem with Microsoft aquiring AOL, providing it doesnt mean i get even more cd-coasters - for the bin through my letterbox.
I'd be glad to see AOL go away anyway, its one less company to hate. It just means two shit companies become 1 shit company.
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
When I formerly worked with Sprint, and MCI was trying to buy them, it was a God-send that it got blocked. It may prove to be the case here as well. We've already read stories on here about the EU not being Microsoft friendly.
In the end, would it benefit the consumer? I'd be inclined to say, "Maybe, but probably not". The only benefit to M$ shareholders is rolling in the monthly subscriber fees. However, they are from a fickle market: consumers. M$ gets their monthly royalties from a reliable, steady source: businesses. This is part of the reason Nextel kicks everyone's ass in terms of revenue per user (because they identified this marketing trend early and targeted it).
John
Summary is that TimeWarner says that TWX and MSFT have been talking about DRM, but that the other rumors are simply not true. The full press release is here:_ 2.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040319/tech_aol_microsoft
That AOL CD's are ten times more ubiquitous than Microsoft software.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
In french we have a good quote which is : ( Qui se ressemble, s'assemble. ) which means who look alike, get togheter. Personnaly I don't like the way Microsoft manage things in general and IMHO, AOL is the worst ISP in the world using ads and popups in about everything they provide. Perhaps Microsoft is looking in a way to work more horizontally since the software division is getting flammed and losing ground these days =) We will se what happen but I don't have any objection, I'll boycut as much as I can on both! Yan.
'dere I said it.
"Thanks to the remote control I have the attention span of a gerbil."
Although it could happen, I'm sure a monopoly the size of MS could never be allowed to acquire the media behemoth of AOL TW.
Microsoft should acquire the Dept. of Justice -- clearing up several legal nuisances in one fell swoop.
-kgj
-kgj
I'm trying to understand how that is bad? AIM is filled with spyware, adware, and is a spam-filled network. Besides, getting rid of AIM would mean one more step towards unified IM. Personally, I'd like to see Yahoo become the de-facto standard, because I like their products, pricing, and I think that Yahoo is a well run company.
If it happens, we'll be able to find out once and for all if two wrongs really do make a right.
filmcritic.com - Movie reviews on Internet time
if microsoft really wants to pay for trash like aol just to get their userbase, let them. It's not if aol has done anything good recently
Microsoft would just be buying AOL. The content AOL has may not go with it if that happens.....not tha AOL does not have anything that can't be had elsewhere.
Gorkman
This is just Gates' next step to taking over the world. Be afraid, be very afraid.
A while ago Microsoft was considering purchasing Google. On the other hand AOL has right to buy nearly 2 million Google shares. If MS buys AOL then, by implication, MS has the same right ...
A religious war is an adult version of a fight over who has the best imaginary friend
the automatons of Bill stare into the eyeless face of the Aol-Man, and "Wind Beneath my Wings" begins to play in the background...
Miscrosoft may as well buy TW and have their massive content delivery system, which is one of the reasons MSN isn't doing well. After this can a merger with the Disney/McDonalds/Coca-Cola empire be close behind? McDonalds McWi-Fi or whatever is already "powered by centrino" whatever the hell that means, so they're already in bed with Wintel. This looks like the start of the sci-fi predicted super-corps that eventually replace the government. Blue Sun anyone? Where do i signup for the libertarian party...
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Please people, stop speculating on what would happen if MS bought AOL-TW. The article is about TimeWarner selling its AOL portion to Microsoft. It does say that they are discussing MS possibly investing in TimeWarner as part of the deal though. But that is not quite the same a MS taking over the whole kit and kaboodle.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
...because of anti-trust reasons. It would be a monopoly on "sucks".
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
about what other things were "unofficially" part of the netscape anti-trust settlement that may have been discussed in secret that got Microsoft to agree to pay 860 million to Time Warner. We know about the renewed IE license and TW/AOL ditching mozilla out the front door, but this suggests maybe they talked about other things as well...
The nature of software and the Internet is such that the more people who use a companies stuff, for compatability's sake, the more inclined other people are to sign up. So As far as branding goes, AOL has the most solid association with "the Internet" in Joe Consumer's mind, even despite MSFT's shoving MSN in your face upon installation. If Microsoft could shove AOL in your face on installation, imagine how the odds of someone signing up to their online service would increase.
The nature of software and the Internet is such that the more people who use a companies stuff, for compatability's sake, the more inclined other people are to sign up. MSFT could afford it, and as AOL has always been regarded as a going concern (profitable or not), it's in MSFT's best interests to buy. The only reason I can see to avoid this acquisition is the threat of more antitrust litigation -- MSFT's biggest thrn (#2 being Linux I'd guess).
I wouldn't mind so much, so long as I get to keep my old screen names, which probably isn't going to be feasable with so many people using both services.
Merging those namespaces would prove trivial, as MSN account names include a user name and an MX name, separated by the Commercial At Sign ('@'). For instance, AIM nick "PinocchioPoppins" would become MSN account "pinocchiopoppins@aim.com", and ICQ ID 98765432 would become, say, "98765432@icq.com".
Right there with ya bud. My lever is going to click for the candidate most likely to beat Bush. Don't vote with your heart in November, vote with vengance.
Un-news
America Online has the right to buy a $22m chunk of Google, according to a filing by parent Time Warner.
Hmm...
g =n efd_top
This could be an interesting buy, I guess. See this
article in C|Net on AOL's rights in buying Google's
shares...
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5175783.html?ta
May god help net
Two sets of poorly written software that are well known for breaking each other, with minimal backwards compatability.
This will just make it worse.
Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
AOL/Time Warner Dumped AOL. This isn't a big deal, lots of companies do something similarly - IBM comes to mind.
/.er concerned about this because AOL was considered the worst Internet provider just a few years ago and there isn't much love for MS here.
Now I can't imagine any
The question is what technologies does MS want? Netscape, AIM - what else?
Netscape the browser is dead. Mozilla was spun off into Mozilla foundation, seperate non for profit entity. Netscape is now just the budget ISP that AOL offers.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
For once, Microsoft could be looking at a company with a product it might actually be able to improve!
Internet fraud would drop 80% if they could stop AOLers from putting their credit card numbers into forms hosted on geocities.
A lot of people have been bashing AOL, and it's true that it's probably not a good choice for most /. readers. But they have a lot of features that are good for some pretty big niche markets (people with small kids, for example).
I have a Time-Warner cable modem. Time-Warner has to let other ISPs use its cable lines, so when you sign up, you can take Time-Warner's Road-Runner, Earthlink, a local company, or AOL as your ISP.
If you walk into the cable company office, you see tons of promotional material for Road Runner. They have cartoon road runners on posters all over the place, terminals in the office so you can see how fast it is, and all the rest.
But there is no sign whatsoever that AOL is available. You have to know about it. I'm not even sure you can sign up for AOL at the office -- you might have to call AOL and get it set up.
Whether or not you like AOL, it's a big brand, and a lot of people do like it. I think that if they had posters for AOL at the office, along side of the Road Runner stuff, they'd sell as many AOL accounts as Road Runner accounts.
They don't, though. Why? Corporate infighting? Not wanting the other guys to look good? I don't know.
The point is that AOL is an asset that Time-Warner, for whatever reasons, doesn't want to maximize. Someone else would do a better job.
Personally, I'd like to see Yahoo become the de-facto standard, because I like their products, pricing, and I think that Yahoo is a well run company.
Like AIM and MSN, Yahoo! doesn't publish its protocol details to members of the public who want to develop free software to interoperate. Use Jabber instead.
...when Compaq and HP were merging, Scott McNealy said it reminded him of "...a head-on collision between two slow moving garbage trucks..."
How appropriate for this case, two.
yes, it's ........ NETSCAPE !!! MS is tired of working on IE (done with it on the Mac, no new standalone versions,) and somebody figured out they can do a GM on this, and insure "competition."
:-D
it's loony enough to be true. help spread the rumor
(( no proof that they are looking to purchase Casablanca from Morocco, and thus ingratiate themselves with the french, and thus the EC. hee, hee, this is addictive! ))
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
I mean AOL owns Netscape, So that could cause trouble with Mozilla, we could for sure see WinAmp go buh bye.
SimonTek
A Microsoft deal would look more like this:
If MS aquired AOL, that would give MS a bigger monopoly than it already has in the ISP and instant messenger markets.
Not to mention that AOL owns Netscape, which is the only REAL (dont flame me) competitor to explorer.
The Code Ninja is swift with his tool, precise in his delivery, and deadly accurate in his execution.
Why would the Borg want to buy The Teletubbies?
I personally have a waaay bigger problem with the way AOL operates over Microsoft. Please god, don't let this happen.
Someone must have goofed.
AOL's business model is dead. Their attempt to *be* the internet has failed (remember all those TV commercials with 'AOL keyword' this and that? You don't see those anymore) for many reasons, including better search technology from Google and the proliferation of free content from competitors (Yahoo) and P2P.
The only reason people keep their AOL accounts is because they want to keep their email address.
All AOL represents to Microsoft is a user base. With the online access market saturated in the US, the only room to grow is by acquisition. I doubt there are many other busniess 'synergies' to this merger beyond that.
Imposing Libertarian views on everyone online since 1992.
Only microsoft has the money to buy something like AOL, just to run it into the ground. I, for one, welcome it. AOL blurs the line between the net and so-called premium content. I can't tell you how many people think that AOL is the internet. Not to mention the AOL "client" being as good for the stability of your OS as unplugging the computer in the middle of converting your filesystem from FAT to NTFS.
Please microsoft, do this, and kill AOL once and for all.
P.S. Who wouldn't want to see the next IE with a Mozilla Core?
As of Sept 2003:
-America Online had 24.7 million subscribers and a 25.6% share
-MSN had 8.7 million subscribers and a 9.0% share.
So MSFT could buy the dialup business and hold a significantly larger share of the ISP business. 34.6% does not a monopoly make.
Take the content and Roadrunner and Cable. Combine it with Paul Allen's Comcast and you now have 45% of the ISP market and a significant portion of the cable TV market
Time Warner Roadrunner broadband never offered AOL as an ISP option. So I suspect that they do not think highly of AOL even within the walls. You can even get Earhlink or Max.Inter.Net as an alternative!
Have you Meta Moderated t
In other news, Microsoft today announced plans to acquire the government of the United States. By leveraging innovative technologies, content providers streamline compelling enterprise solutions.
A Microsoft spokenperson commented, "By controlling what is arguably the most powerful government in the world, Microsoft will be able to better control the rights of consumers in regards to the company's valuable intellectual property." The first change to be made, according to Chairman and now Chief World Domination Officer Bill Gates, is to rename the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) to MRS (Microsoft Revenue Service). From now on, all tax dollars will go directly into Bill Gates' checking account.
Microsoft's acquisitions last week of the RIAA, MPAA, SCO, and the Equifax credit reporting bureau have empowered the company to supply the best operating system since Windows XP, enabling the multinational corporations next on Microsoft's acquisition list to gain a higher return on lawsuits against their own customers.
Microsoft stock climbed 90 points after the announcement.
I doubt the FTC would allow a merger of two of the largest ISPs. I could see Earthlink snapping them up though.
That's a first.
I could be wrong, but wasn't this one of the signs of the Apocolypse?
Seriously though, if Microsoft were to aquire AOL, what would stop them from ISP and OS domination? They could make a big mess for non-windows users to be online in that case... I could see it now:
**Joe user opens www.--------.com**
"We're sorry, this Microsoft Enhanced webpage cannot be viewed on this computer. Do you want to upgrade to Windows OS?"
Business \Busi"ness\, n.;
A scam in which all people involved perceive as beneficial...
We got this dialog box on a computer in one of our computer labs while runnin Windows Update. At times, I think its appropriate.
BTW: That is not an edit.
Losing the only decent media player for windows
Foobar2000? Zinf? The alternative Windows media player scene has come a long way since the early Winamp 2.x days.
I realize you probably have your own answer to that question, but for me, the answer seems simple:
:P
Mind/Marketshare.
Like the other fellow said, for those people who don't know any better, AOL is the internet. When those brilliant souls start making the association "Microsoft == Internet", well... what a huge coup that'll be, eh?
Secondarily, I think MS would love the opportunity to squash Netscape a little more. AOL has toyed on and off with the idea of defaulting to Netscape browser tech; buying AOL would probably mean no further chance of that happening. Just another way to enforce vendor lock-in.
And Nullsoft? WinAmp is dead! Long live WMP!
Just my $0.02.
You've got a vulnerability!
ICQ didn't disappear or merge completely into AIM when AOL bought the company. While Microsoft would probably work slowly and gently to migrate users over to the whole Passport system, I seriously doubt they'd just pull the plug or force everybody to suddenly switch.
Microsoft Windows is, fittingly, the official Desktop OS of Olig
I for one welcome our uni-corporation overlords
If it happens and television, internet, operating system, instant messenger, office, email, music, etc. are all integrated, well, there's one thing for it:
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
This sets AOL apart from its former sister division, Warner Music, which was recently sold off amid a steep decline in its performance due to digital piracy.
It seems more likely the problem is music people don't want combined with prices which are too high.
not even that, Microsoft would migrate it like they migrated the other disparate id systems on their own site. you would login under the current AIM or ICQ id, then you would assign it to a valid passport. The old account would go away and the new merged info would be in your passport. It has worked smoothly everytime I did it.
Damnit, where is that (+1: prescient) when you need it?
in the millions of man-hours needed to retool all known scales of, measures of, and references to 'corporate suckage'
/.ers reading the story headline had their face in the hands and were making some sort of noise that would make your dog cower, it's the synergy of the basic groans most make at the mere mention of either of these companies
admit it - the majority of
the new grownup ms ads make me want to watch 'office space' to see more realistic cubicle behavior, and the kids ones make me imagine that kid never gets to astronaut school because he's doing his application in office...
on the other hand, the prospect of apple / pixar / disney being aligned could make people skip down the street...
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
This is like the Borg assimilating Harcourt Fenton Mudd.
Sheesh, they can have him.
You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
can you say microsoft-aol-timewarner-nbc-starbucks-mega-conglo merate-no-one-can-possibly-compete-company
sounds somewhat like some a certain race in star trek. you will be assimilated...
I think they deserve eachother.
Does anyone really care if the AOL and MSN user base is combined? Aren't 90%+ of the home PC users still on Windows?
The real reason AOL wanted to dump Mozilla entirely on its own. Yhey've likely been discussing this deal with Microsoft for a while. Microsoft's first order of business was probably "well, you'll have to get rid of Mozilla."
Just thinking out loud.
Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
Oh wait...
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
You've Got Bill!!! instead of You've Got Mail!!!
Supreme Granter of Doctor of Obviology Letters ("A FIRM Command of the Obvious")
This is idle speculation and it is completely unrealistic for all of the antitrust reasons.
1. AOL has the option to buy a large chunk on Google and Google is AOL's preferred search option. AOL promotes Google in their commercials.
It is no secret Microsoft wishes to bury Google with Longhorn.
2. AOL owns WinAmp.
Microsoft getting its grubby hands on WinAmp and other Nullsoft properties wouldn't be allowed. See the European Union's (non Mad Cow) beef with Microsoft and Windows Media Player.
3. AOL owns AIM and ICQ.
Microsoft acquiring either or both of these Instant Messenger platforms would not be permitted. AIM is essentially the standard IM client on mobile phones in America. AIM is also the basis for Apple's iChat software. There are too many parties involved that would object to this.
4. AOL has options to buy Amazon.com stock and owns shares.
'Nuff said.
5. AOL owns shares in TiVo and is a partner.
'Nuff said. See UltimateTV. Also see "WindowsXP Media Center."
6. AOL is an active partner in Sony's plans of offering IM services to the Playstation platform. While this has not happened on the PS2, it is most likely scheduled for the PS3.
Microsoft and the Xbox, not to mention the Xbox Next. 'Nuff said.
7. AOL is a preferred partner with Apple's iTunes.
Microsoft acquiring AOL will again be seen as a move to squeeze Apple out of the market just like over the AIM situation. This will only aide the antitrust lawsuit Real Networks has leveraged against Microsoft.
8. AOL was an institutional shareholder in Palm since the spin-off from 3Com.
Again, Microsoft acquiring AOL would be a headache because this would be yet another example of Microsoft hitting at its various competitors.
The Bush Justice Dept., already burned over the Antitrust Settlement, will in no way allow this to go through.
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
A couple other people have mentioned this, but no one (so far) has really hit it on the head.
What about Mozilla? And Netsacpe?
Now, Mozilla may have been spun off as an independent non-proft, and as one poster above notes, was given $2 million in seed money.
However, is this still *All* the money Mozilla got/gets from AOL? How does Mozilla fund its developers -- there seem to be a lot of people involved, and surely they would have burned through that $2 million already.
Is it true that AOL pays Mozilla money to license the source for inclusion in the (closed-source) Netscape browser?
More on Netscape: even if there are no new versions of Netscape being produced (are there?), wouldn't there be anti-trust concerns? Taking all versions together, isn't Netscape still the #2 browser out there (Most Linux and other Mozilla-based browsers have low marketshare; I don't think Opera and the Mac browser have much penetration, but they may be more popular than the Netscapes). I know all about the regulator capture arguments.. but doesn't this go a bit further? i.e. blocking a buy-out is much easier than splitting a company, and it is quite serious for a company which *holds* an illegal monopoloy in browsers to buy the second-most popular browser.
I don't think the cable/high-speed internet access arguments have much legs, though. The DoJ will probably say that DSL competes with cable modem (even if it doesn't in many areas) and that satellite competes with cable.
I read something like this and I think to myself
Does America have NO anti-competition laws???
In Europe it is highly doubtful a huge predatory company, with a track record such as Microsoft's, would get the EU go ahead to acquire/merge with a company like AOL.
This sig has been deprecated.
I don't really care about the AOL Internet Service, Microsoft can buy it and crush it and spit it out to the dumpster for all I care. What I'm worried about is projects like AIM and Mozilla. Mozilla (and Netscape, another AOL product) are the biggest competitors to IE, and for good reason: they don't suck.
I rely on AIM for day to day communication, but Microsoft would simply merge it into the shitty Windows/MSN Messenger services, creating one terrible horrible disgusting network. Then they could start charging for IM too.
And they would DEFINATELY disband the Mozilla team and get rid of netscape completely. Although the Mozilla developers I imagine would pick up the browser in their spare time after work, or become sponsored by a 3rd party, it still has potential to damage Mozilla.
Hypocrisy is the 8th deadly sin.
Netscape no longer exists as a software company -- it's now a crappy news page and one of AOL's ISP brands.
A bigger problem would be Nullsoft (MS already has EU problems with Media Player).
New MSN/AOL Verson 6.66 With the new MSN/AOL you now recive the dumbed down internet from the biggest computer software companys that is above the law. You will be informed of updates though our Blue screen of udates. When you see the blue screen you need to update, no pop ups just a friendly blue screen to let you know that we care about you and there is a new patch ready. Don't worry about spam because no one wants email you anyway. Your new buddy list will have all of you AOL/MSN friends and one spot and file shareing has never been easyer with our new "back door" file server.
This Sig for rent.
Actually, I could see Microsoft buying out AOL and it being a sensible business move.
The thing is, they wouldn't be running both AOL and MSN simultaneously. What they'd be paying for is the existing AOL customer base, which they'd then be able to migrate over to their service. (There are a number of ways this could be accomplished, but an "optimal" method might be creating a new "AOL 10" type CD that asks users if they'd prefer the "old AOL style" front-end, or just a direct connection to the Internet without it. This new CD could be modified to connect to MSN's existing phone numbers or gateways, allowing Microsoft to slowly phase out and sell off the hardware they obtained from the AOL purchase.)
As it stands, MSN competes pretty directly with AOL. (The "rest of us" don't generally consider either one a viable option for our internet needs.) If they absorb AOL, they might have enough customers to make it profitable.
Microsoft is the prime eater of desktop companies, just as CA is the prime eater of mainframe companies...
/. readers think this will ever happen?"
Q:
"and do
A:
Yes.
Missing option: Maybe?
Mod +5 Drunk
That's a first!
Open source sig, feel free to modify and distribute.
Why did HP buy Compaq? Computers are far less profitable than printers and other such accessories. Why did HP want to further dilute its company with marginally profitable computers?
Perhaps the biggest reason was that it funnelled more customers to the more profitable accessories businesses (if I buy a computer from HP, I might as well buy the printer from there as well). Also, the economies of scale in their parts business (both HP and Compaq sell highly proprietary parts which are only available from them--e.g. $300 motherboards for $500 PCs).
Microsoft has been consistently willing to lose money with MSN. If I am reading the article correctly (AOL profits are not separately available easily, since they are a subsidiary; probably available somewhere, but I'm not taking the time to try), AOL is at least currently profitable (albeit decreasingly so). Further, purchasing it more than triples their subscriber base. All the reasons for Microsoft to be in the ISP business at all (presumably to help funnel business back to their profitable OS and office suite lines) are reasons for them to want AOL.
No, I don't think that AOL has anything to teach Microsoft, but that has nothing to do with the potential aquisition. The biggest thing that Microsoft can gain is market share. Next biggest is content, but they will probably look to outsource most of that anyway (they might even leave the content part with Time Warner, as sharing content was the original purpose of their talks).
At least then it'll be easier to hate both AOL and Microsoft.
What are the chances /. readers care if this happens?
It would be like AOL acquiring CompuServe. Oh, yeah, they did -- but only after CompuServe was becoming quickly irrelevant. MSN is popular because of MS' dominance on the desktop and their inclusion of access to MSN properties in many places on it. AOL is an embarrassment to Wall Street investors and "new media" business gurus who thought AOL==Internet at some level and thought it was more influential than TimeWarner which it bought in a bubble-priced stock swap days (ok, weeks) before the March 2000 collapse.
If MSN bought AOL most people would yawn. What would it mean to non-AOL/MSN subscribers? Nothing.
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
*sniff*
I'm going to miss those free coasters and DVD cases.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
They would make it so that both messangers work with one another at first - and leave the brands alone. Then later, little by little they would get rid of one of the messangers with newer patches and versions.
AOL would probably come out on top because of the brand name... but hopefully some of the good things about MSN messanger would get integrated as well.
There is always a frontier where there is an open and willing mind
OH THE SHAME I fell off the wagon and use sigs again!
Have you taken note that the latest shipment doesn't even have the spindle locators in the case, making it worthless except as a puzzle if you pull the label that says to "open here"?
It might make the kids keep quiet for 10 seconds...
--
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
99.22% setiathome rank, not too shabby for a WV hillbilly
Yahoo.com attornies please note, additions to this message
by Gene Heskett are:
Copyright 2004 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights reserved
Your second mistake was trusting anything in the New York Post. Your first mistake was reading that schlock in the first place.
Something intelligent here.
The chilling thing is that if MS could acquire Netscape, they could then do what so far they've been unable to...take the Netscape source code for themselves and make a closed-source branch!
True, they could not "steal" the already GPL'ed stuff away from the rest of us, but they would be able to take that code and use that as a starting point for their own close-source derivitives, WITHOUT re-releasing their changes back to the public.
It all comes down to who owns the copyright. If Netscape Inc. owns the copyright, even if they licensed it under the GPL, then if MS buys the copyright ownership, they are completely free to also license the code back to themselves sans-GPL. This is perhaps the most effective way to defeat the GPL. (Hence why free-software projects should probably consider assigning their copyrights to the FSF, rather than keeping it....MS will never be able to but the FSF).
On the positive side...perhaps we could finally see alpha-channel support in PNG images in IE?
With recent trends demonstrating that MS is at least trying to better itself as far as quality and long-overdue technical changes are concerned, I must admit to having developed a modicum of respect for it.
But AOL? AOL has never, and has never seriously tried to produce anything other than pure unadulterated crap. AOL's IM survives only because it has a monopoly on the most valuable IM asset: human capital. People are too lazy to switch (not that the other common IM alternatives are exemplary either).
It's as if MS has a corporate team tasked with screwing things up (SCO funding mess anyone?), and a technical team tasked with fixing what has always been screwed up, which would be, well, most of what they produce.
to '86 Microshit. At first you wonder, "this makes no sense!" - but then you realize every Micro$oft project save two hemorrhages money, and it all becomes crystal clear. Can we reclassify AOL then as a pathogen? Do we need to?
umm isnt "vengance" what got us into the Iraq situation in the first place?
:>
With Vengance nothing good can come of it.
Now to be on topic. I think this is a good idea get all the idiot lusers into 1 isp so we can block them all.
What are the chances and do /. readers think this will ever happen?
Here in the US this is more than probable. The US political government is all about corporate power and money. As an example, look at how Microsoft was punished by the US government vs thier (likely) punishment by the EU who realizes that monopolies are bad. We need to back away from the pure capitalist approach to running our country before our government itself is replaced by a corporation.
Please note that my current opinion may be tainted by the fact that I've recently read 'The Jungle' by Upton Sinclair. Good book if you want an example of pure unrestricted capitalism.
If Microsoft acquires AOL/Time-Warner and Comcast acquires Disney, then Microsoft will effectively control the cable broadcasting and communications market.
.85 votes per share will likely be determined to be unfair, as all shareholders that are brought along in the merger will have not been given opportunity for fair consideration of those terms.
The key to this deal is Microsoft's position as the largest single shareholder in Comcast owning 15% of the companies stock. Compare this to the Roberts family (Ralph Roberts, founder of Comcast, and Brian Roberts, CEO) holdings of slightly over 1% of the company.
If Comcast acquires Disney, then a voting policy dictating that the Roberts family shares are weighted in voting to = 7.5 votes per share while other shares are = to only around
Just think about the future that these two deals could bring us, Microsoft being in control of the vast majority of news, music and recording, movie, and print media in the United States while being capable of dictating the protocols that are used to connect to, and to filter the trafic to and from, the internet.
It's not a tin foil hat theory. It's simply the logical extension of such consolidation of communication and media marketplace under the control of one company that has a rather nasty history of not respecting the wishes of the community that they chose to do business in.
Oh yeah, Paul Allen's vompany Vulcan Northwest Inc. owns a 5% share in Microsoft, so we can probably count Charter Cable and a number of other media and telecom companies as being involved in this as well.
Read, L
I suspect the biggest benefit for Microsoft buying AOL will be to compete against Google for search market share. Currently the market is split between Google, MSN and Yahoo. If MSN take AOL's share from Google they might be able to claim a majority of the search market when they launch their upcoming search engine.
However, there's a chance this will be another case of the European Union blocking a merger that American anti-trust law OKs?
So i made my deal w' the devil and went to work for AOL. They're not such a bad devil, and 12 year old girls need internet access too. Now, i think i'm beginning to see the fine print...
But I could see them trying something with the "home" version. MSN is already heavily advertized on a "home" desktop on install. If you don't know any better, you'd probably end up with MSN.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
But within the past year or so, it seems the tides have turned. AOL, which was at one point the more profitable division, has recently been losing both revenue and customers, while the Time Warner division has been doing relatively well. Since the merger, that have taken AOL out of the name of the new company, and are now trying to sell AOL. This seems stragne for a merger where AOL seemed to be the original power mover in the deal.
The largest Czest pool of spam and virus network ever created. Spammers, hackers and virus writers will be happier than a pig in Poop.
There's no Freedom like UFP-dom
"You've got updates!!!"
Calling atheism and agnosticism a religion is like calling bald a hair color.
Wouldn't microsoft be using their weight in the desktop markey to destroy compitition in other markets they have their greedy fingers in?
....
The instant messaging market
The browser market
The internet service provider market
The
*DrugCheese rants*
OH THE SHAME I fell off the wagon and use sigs again!
..about the SCO scam:
"Buy Caldera, discover Caldera developers contributed to Linux kernel, wait 5 years, cover your ass, sue everyone in sight."
Buy AOL/Netscape - discover Netscape developers contributed to Mozilla code - who writes the MPL now - sue everyone in sight - own Mozilla CVS server - cancel development of Mozilla for Linux.
$ whois mozilla.org
$ whois meer.net
And posibily legal in the excelent protection that american law gives its citizens...
I mean.... its downright communistic to think this may be anticompetitive isnt it?
NO SIG
In order for any deal like this to go through, AOL would need to spin off AIM into a seperate company before the deal. Otherwise the FTC would shut this down, hardcore.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
So does Microsoft + AIM = MAIM?
IF microsoft is going to try to buy AOL (and who says they are?), i don't think it's so much set in stone that they'll actually do anything to it.
i say this because, in the automotive world at least, competition with oneself is a common tactic.
take ford/lincoln/mercury for instance. many of the cars are practically identical, using the same parts with only minor body style differences in some cases. they are all owned by the same company. while it seems idiotic or suicidal to compete with oneself, all three of these companies are actually profitable (though perhaps not very).
microsoft could buy AOL and not do much of anything to it on the surface. in the minds of many customers, these would still be entirely different companies. AOL users might hate msn messenger and glorify AIM. Maybe microsft would spin up Navigator and present it as an "alternative browser". Like with Ford an Mercury, people would percieve a difference in the products that may or may not be there; but in the end, all the money is going to MS.
just a thought.
** Chigusaaa!!! You're the coolest girl in the WORLD!!! **
The FTC will surely scrutinize Microsoft over this one. You can't just buy a multi-billion dollar company without the government knowing about it. I have a feeling that the FTC will make things difficult for Microsoft. This won't be a simple hand shake, done deal kind of acquisition.
Us poor bastards that work for Time Warner companies. Having AOL mixed in with us has been disastrous for everything from our desktop systems to the creepy micromanagement. Not to mention all of the budget tightening that had to occur to help make up for AOL's "sloppy" accounting... We're just starting to get out from under it, and now this. For the record, I don't work for AOL, or even an internet related division, so please don't start flaming me. I'm pointing out that the effects of having the Voyage of the Damned plow into our (semi) tightly run ship reach far deeper into the corporate culture than you might suspect. The only positive aspect I can see is that AOL may help suck some of the money out of Microsoft, making it harder for them to remain so insanely dominant. Plus, "enemies" consolidating might make it easier to identify "friends"...
Someday a real rain is gonna come...
That wasn't a denial.
I'm sorry, but out of all 4 systems I am on (the big ones, ICQ, AIM, Y!, MSN) ICQ has the _MOST_ activity and the most users on at any one time - and has the least "slack" contacts who are rarely on
If you cannot keep politics out of your moderation remove yourself from the Mod Lottery.. NOW!
The trial, which M$ lost decisively, seems to be of no effect whatsoever, and nothing at all is being done to ensure better behaviour in the future. This has entirely discredited the US legal system.
Hopefully, if they really do try to acquire AOL, it will be blocked in Europe and the UK. Our laws, or maybe our judges, have a sharper set of teeth.
Hopefully when the EC are finished with them, there will be no more M$, the world will be a ssfer and more secure place when their vile, bug-infested, unstable and insecure products have gone. If the penalty in the existing case in Europe is sufficiently high, it will cause the share price to collapse, the beginning of the end. They will follow SCO into well-deserved oblivion. It looks as if SCO's share price is collapsing now, it is only held up by idiots who don't find out what is really going on, and believe certain incompetent "analysts". The Convicted Monopolist will not be too far behind.
Actually Yes, I would have to dig it up - but I submitted it to YRO [and they _always_ reject my articles.. bastages]
anyway - it FORCE INSTALLS "Viewpoint Media Player" which contains unique user tracking stuff - try and delete it and next time you run AIM it force installs it back in. This is just one of many infractions
If you cannot keep politics out of your moderation remove yourself from the Mod Lottery.. NOW!
The Bush Justice Dept., already burned over the Antitrust Settlement...
Burned by who? The general public barely cared. Big business told the DOJ breaking MS up would be a terrible idea. The administration doesn't care about what the EU thought of it. In my view the actions of the administration were horrible regarding the antitrust action. But overall I don't see how they got burned.
Developers: We can use your help.
AOLMSNBC
After worldcom imploded, everyone looked to put the blame on them, but forget to ask about the partners in crime.
Simlar to the illegal practice of swapping bandwidth at the end of the quarter to inflate the value of the company that worldcom, quest and colt were involved in was also practiced by AOL.
But AOL has been deeply involved in Worldcom, as well as Microsoft with both of them.
Worldcom was also hugly overvalued, and way buying up company left and right, until the bubble burst when the MCI merger blew up.
The real question at hand is, when will the AOL bubble burst?
Or is there more to the Microsoft Worldcom AOL Triangle that will we find out when more people lose thier pension funds?
It is also a question, what is the real value of Microsoft? How much of it is hyperinflated, and what if it turns into another worldcom with cooked books full of accounting tricks. If it is anything like its partners, I would not be suprised if they were involved in such practices with them.
Also, Why is it that microsoft was interested in buying corrupt companies like Worldcom?
Introspection is the key to understanding
Say goodbye to the AOL/iTunes deal as well
I use ICQ myself (have done so long enough that I have a six-digit ICQ number), and have a number of friends on ICQ (including some non-geeks). So it's hardly "dead", at least for me.
--Dan
Web Tips
Why the hell do these corporations want so much power? Why do they want all this money? Bill Gates already has more than he knows what to do with.. so... what's the point in continuing? It's not like they're benefitting all of mankind or technology, in fact, they're hindering its progress. What gives?
Greed.
News.com
No se vayan todavia, aun hay mas. http://www.error500.net
Now new users to the Internet will now have a new way to generate a BSoD.
Remember, if MS denies it, it must be true!
Secondarily, I think MS would love the opportunity to squash Netscape a little more. AOL has toyed on and off with the idea of defaulting to Netscape browser tech; buying AOL would probably mean no further chance of that happening. Just another way to enforce vendor lock-in.
They could do better than that. Netscape v8 as a rebranded Internet Explorer, anyone?
It's not like either company could act more like a bunch of assholes or be a bigger competition-threatening monopoly.
Because Comcast is also an ISP.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
AOL has always been a bigger name than MSN.
Not outside the US. In Europe for example, AOL is (at best) just another ISP and in most countries it does not even exist as an ISP and what else does AOL do apart from being an ISP? Yes, nothing! (Would any non-AOL user download AIM?)
It might sound strange, but MS has less competition in Europe in markets like IM than it does in the US (because of AOL). A possible integration of ICQ (widely used in Europe) with MSN (used quite a lot) and AIM (not really used) would leave yahoo picking up a few small pieces just making sure MS does not have a monopoly.
My gut feeling is that... the AOL name will slowly dissapear, first outside the US, where it hardly makes sense (ie. AMERICA On Line:), and (perhaps) in the US as well, helped by the fact that as you said AOL does not really have much of a brand value (other than "Internet for Dummies" perhaps) which well can be taken over by MSN as well - hell I am sure Bill would like some MSNized AOL-kind-of-users only surfing MSN.com with an MSN broswer - what is the possibility those users would ever switch from Windows to any other O/S?
IF the acquisition happens, it IS a big step towards world domination...
I would be very interested to see what this could mean for the fate of AOLServer. AOLServer is AOL's open source server that they have maintained as OSS despite the tide of naysayers when they acquired it. I, for one, would be very amused to see MS maintain an open source project, but realistically, acquisition would likely mean replacing this, and any other non-MS software with their MS "equivalents".
does this mean i get my cable company back?
i feel soooo dirty every time i pay that TW/AOL bill.
Does this mean that on EFNET there will be thousands of AOL users asking "I w4nT 2 b 1337 h0w d0 1 h4>
Microsoft, we didn't make AOL, we made it worser.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
What kind of drugs are you on? MSN is by far the largest instant messenger user base in the world. MSN Messenger has become synonymous with instant messaging. Just because the Linux world uses AIM, it doesn't mean it's the industry standard. The average population use MSN exclusively. My current contacts ratio is about 10:1 (MSN vs other programs). I use Trillian so I'm impartial to any of the protocols. I may not like MS but they basically own IM.
They will have Antitrust problems. MS already owns a chunk of Comcast another broadband provider. Acquiring AOL broadband and dialup business will make them a target for DOJ antitrust investigation. And that a cool thing for Billy and Melinda's kids' future.
In all seriousness, I'm sure that if these rumors are true, M$ is shopping for content. Can't imagine they've taken renewed interest in dial-up.
This is my post. There are many others like it. If you don't like what you read here, go try one of the others.
All companies that I hate should combine into one big megacompany -- it makes it much easier to boycott them.
That would just mean that MS acquires another incredibly stupid userbase to add to its millions - of course, they overlap, so there's _some_ cancellation. Not much, though.
Striking fear in the authors of godawful fanfiction, I am here, appearing in darkness, Tuxedo Jack!
Would Microsoft require the company to migrate everything over to Windows? What about applications that have never been built for Windows? Would those applications be replaced as well? With what?
This could be interesting.
"Teleporting Rodents with D-Cell Battery Displacement" theory -- IgnoramusMaximus (692000)
It's not gonna happen.
Do NOT joke about this. I'm terrified at the eventuality of this.
I wonder if the federal government is simply holding off on slapping MS with some serious anti-trust stuff (such as, say, federalizing them) until they've amassed enough of the wealth to turn the US into a much less free country.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Don't talk about Fight Club.
No matter how many of my rights are taken away, somehow I still don't feel safe. -Frigid Monkey
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I mean come on, MSN is a large ISP, AOL is the largest, Earthlink and the rest would scream holy hell over it.
They might be able to get away with buying peoplePC or netzero, but no way in hell on Aol.
Given MS stated view point of one connection for every computer, to one network, under one OS running with liberty and justice for all, a simple cable company makes a lot more sense. I seriously doubt Gates and Ballmer are crapping in ajoining toilets, talking about how great it would be if microsoft got into the television and publishing business to get their name out there better.
Look at it this way:
It's Los Angles in the 1930's.
AOL is the Red Car.
Microsoft is General Motors.
Nullsoft? There's what...maybe one and a half people there now?
one connection...one network...one OS...
Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer....
coincidence?
Y'know, you blow up one sun and suddenly everyone expects you to walk on water.
I mean I run nix, but still MS isn't all that bad. They do have some damn good products out there. Rich in features, usability, security holes, etc....
But AOL is just plain bad! Agh!
01100111 01100101 01110100 00100000 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110010 01100101 00101110
The article says TW lawyers don't think there would be any roadblock, but it seems to me a company that's been legally declared a monopoly in one industry should not be allowed to hold a monopoly in another. But I'm funny that way.
"My break dancing days are over, but there's always the Funky Chicken" --The Full Monty
The EU issue would disappear if AOLTW spun off the EU arm of AOL in a seperate IPO. The EU part of AOL is profitable (hit profitability in 2002). Thus, MS could just buy the American/rest of the world part of AOL (about 25 million users I think) and TW gets some money back from that. It would completely side step the EU anti-trust issues and help TW's share price.
The SEC would be bought (tin foil hat time) and MS basically has what it wants. Captive, stupid internet users with all that monthly revenue. DRM the pants off it if needed, AIM/ICQ/MSN intergration etc (most of these are covered in above posts). Even hook Disney Video on demand into the service, for example.
And with AOL having it's finger is a lot of non-MS pies it would be a huge blow to these other parties. AOL produces a Mac specific application for Mac users to access the internet - if MS klilled the AOL Mac client it would really Apple. Then start to bring in Real, Winamp, Google shares... MS buying AOL would be the smartest thing they could do right now.
Also it's a good way of MS to make sure AOL never releses a Linux client. It would stop a lot of users dependant on AOL who are maybe thinking of sitching to Linux. And with no AOL Mac client buying a Mac goes out of the window too.
Just a few thoughts....
I thought they bought the government a couple years back.
Cthulhu loves you.
He's well on his way - he already has a seat at the Round Table!
Why would Microsoft, who has a failing ISP, want to buy AOL, who is a failing ISP?
Actually MSN was profitable last year. So I fail to see where you are going calling it a failing ISP.
And AOL owns Nullsoft. Assuming that is part of the Aquisition, it would be another interesting sping.
Now that is something that had not come to my mind. I very much doubt that the EU would allow that. On the other hand, it would be nice if winamp replaced windows media player. Not going to happen, but we can wish.
Um, who would approve that buyout? The only competing product against IE with any recognition is Netscape. And AOL owns that. AOL is also a top-tier nationwide ISP, and so is MSN. Perhaps the browsers wars are over (unless you want a secure browsing experience sans spyware), but letting a deal like this go through is definitely bad.
Fred
"A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
-RMS
For DVD cases, I hit up my local video store, they have two cases per rental (the movie box and the take out box) and they usually toss the take out box when they sell of the DVD (in the movie box). A few stickers to remove, but no worse than the address labels. I liked the floppies and the CD tins AOL used for about two weeks.
Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
EA.com is the games channel for AOL. I wonder if this means Microsoft would buy them out of their contract? I guess they could continue to operate it, but since Microsoft and EA are huge competitors in the gaming, it's hard to imagine such a uneasy union lasting very long.
that what happened to Time Warner after their acquisition of AOL will also happen to microsoft. that ought to level the playing field a bit.
There is a reason people stopped using Netscape in the first place. And it has nothing to do with market leadership or business practices. It is plainly that Netscape was not up to snuff. I understand that now their browser is significantly better than it was. But I guarentee you IE 7 will be leaps and bounds above that. Once CSS2 is implemented (and maybe a few parts of CSS3), Netscape has nothing to offer IE except useless bells and whistles.
I love it. People are discussing the possibility that one of the most powerful brands on the Internet, a company that served as training wheels for the Interet to countless millions of people, may be sold to *the* dominant corporation in information technology.
My guess is there are more than a few stockholders in both companies who don't think this speculation is "silly and pointless."
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
In all fariness who cares. They both have terrible products and servieces and I would never use anyhting by either.
Geek Code Version 3.0 GSS d? s++
So when is Bill Gates getting his reserved seat on the UN Security Council?
Bill Gates? On Security Council? We're doomed!
You know, I always get nervous when I hear Bill's name mentioned in connection with word "Security".
“Wait for Hurd if you want something real” –Linus
The corporate blob! Run Apple! Run Sony! RUN FORREST! :-(
The idea of what is probably the most highly trafficked website in the world running on IIS due to a Microsoft takeover has endless comedy potential. Check out the lower right corner of the front page currently.
Microsoft will bring to you AOL's version of a playopenned internet with crappy mail & newsreader tools, with Microsoft's famed product design such as the ubiquitous Microsoft (wanna smash my keyboard) Word.
Yeah, and if my grandma had wheels, she'd be a wagon.
Unlimited growth == Cancer.
Why are you nervous? Think of the implications! We could stamp out terror with a single patch! United Nations XP, Service Pack 1, here we come!
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine...
The first thing MS will do is get AOL customers to switch to MSN and boom they have just double their subscriber base. and since AOL has ties to so many of their competitors, this is how they can switch these customers in many different industries with one blow.
Just think what would happen if AOL went out of business tomorrow? Their customers will go out and get alternatives- and some if not most will go for Microsoft. If MS buys AOL then they will put them out of business for sure and give the customers 'a better alternative' securing more market share in several different industries for themselves.
humble and proud of it.
Sheesh as if microsoft dosen't have enough problems with being a monopoly. The FTC would never approve this deal. What ever happened to the last antitrust case g8s was involved in anyway? I heard something about microsoft donating computers to school as a payment. Wow fulfill your responisbilities under an antitrust settlement and create a new army of unquestioning windows zombies all at the same time! only in america.
411 Y0UR 8453 4R3 8310NG 70 U5!! -NSA
I had this sudded flash of the MSN butterfly bending over the AOL running man/thing/person.
.gif, perhaps.
...)
Not a pretty picture (except for the colors).
I never want to see that again....(pause)....except as an animated
After the merger, and updated XP SE MSN AOL SP2
(...That almost looks like "XP semenal spew", if it were read semi-phall^H^H^Honetically
will be....
errr...
ummmmm.....
'released', yeah, that's the word.
Have you read the moderator guidelines? Well, have you, PUNK? (and I want a Karma: Gnarly option)
And eventually they will merge with Sony to produce the American-Japanese company Microsoft-Sony. Not to be at all confused with Wayland-Yutani.
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
I worked for Road Runner for a short time (pre-merger) as an installer, and I am glad I'm not the only one to think what your thinking about this.
One of my first thoughts when the merger went through was what are they going to do to the Road Runner brand. Since I was a RR customer, my worst nightmare was suddenly having an AOL e-mail address(!). But nothing happened.. nothing. Even when "AOL for Broadband" started showing up they didn't promote it. It wasn't until they were offering OTHER ISPs like Earthlink, that they had AOL as a choice. Which made me wonder if it was terms of the merger with the FTC or not. That has to be the only explanation.
Otherwise they deserve what they got and I agree with the parent post, they mismanaged it horribly.
...unfortunately no one can be told what The Mat^H^H^HGoatse is...they must experience it for themselves...
And eventually they will merge with Sony to produce the American-Japanese company Microsoft-Sony.
Wouldn't the name of that company be Microsony??
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
OMFG, you used the NEW YORK POST as a legitimate source?
Some mornings it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps. -- Emo Phillips
Why are you nervous? Think of the implications! We could stamp out terror with a single patch! United Nations XP, Service Pack 1, here we come!
Would never work. The Service Pack would cause the tanks to stop and the planes to crash because some Al-Qaida script kiddy found a security hole.
Windows is as solid as quicksand.
Yes buy AOL, just look at what the aquisition of AOL did for Time Warner!
The Fisher-Price of operating systems teams up with the Tinker Toys of Internet connections. Perfect. Now all the n00bs can migrate to one protected little corner of the net.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
then maybe we will start getting free windows server 2003 cds in the mail? It would be more useful than the aol software. Try for 45 days, if u don't cancel your CC gets billed for $2000 plus $25 * the number of people in your family.
this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
Two assholes making one target.
It doesn't get better than this.
Now if we could just get Time-Warner to go, too.
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
without that extra funding firebird/firefox/fire whatever-the-hell-it'll-be-named-next is bound to be stuck at 0.8
...and if you believe that i have a few NV40 cards to sell you
they're only doing it for netscape. they arn't happy with simply winning, they must crush their enemies into the silicon dust.
but on an upbeat note, they can take the respected aol name to new heights...
Good for microsoft, but may lead to monopoly. Most of the people I see are using broadband and leader there is ATT (Comcast), also RCN is taking lead in few areas.. Would be interesting fight between Two big players.
Excellent! Now one crappy company (Microsuck) can buy the other crappy company (AOHell) and then they can be crappy together, creating the most craptastic services in history! And we will no longer need to hate both companies- we can make fun of AOHell and Microstink at the same time!
RCN competes with other cable companies.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, buy
Isn't this one of the biggest problems we have today? By that I mean that people/investor groups often have little or no knowledge of the intricate technical details of any given worthwhile, complicated endeavour.
I remember back when AOL and TW combined, and everyone was saying "great, now someday MS will acquire them and the world will end"
:)
Well... here we are
no comment
Both MSN and AOL are going down the drain. They have for years now. Unfortuantely, with Longhorn, Microsoft is integrating MSN tighter and tighter with Windows - if they were to merge MSN with AOL, would anyone still use Windows? Probably not. I know I wouldn't want the little "AIM guy" with butterfly wings on my screen all the time.
How about a single company controlling AIM, ICQ and MSN IM? I know there's competitors, such as Jabber, but all the same...
Looks can be deceiving. Or CAN they?
At least he has some basic understanding of what security means (even if he lies/spins it) and must be a reasonably clever business man to be in the position he is in (and without getting banged up for it) unlike George W. Bush.
I mean, you wouldn't want someone like Bush (who has the mental age of a 3 year old) in charge of any nukes...oh..wait...never mind.
Joe Llywelyn Griffith Blakesley
[This post is in the public domain (copyright-free) unless otherwise stated]
Our correspondent outside the city of Hades has just brought us this report.
Satan has just announced that the temperature is dropping rapidly!
I mean, you wouldn't want someone like Bush (who has the mental age of a 3 year old) in charge of any nukes...oh..wait...never mind.
I wouldn't want anyone to be in charge of any nukes... I wouldn't want any nukes be existing at all. I don't like any lesser weapons either. But alas, this is the earth and we are only humans, so nukes still exist and someone has to be in charge.
However, what comes to the mental age of GWB, I do agree...
“Wait for Hurd if you want something real” –Linus
They would be a good way to get rid of them and all their noobie internet users opening email attachments to see the "details" of people they've never heard of.
in a related note of irony, I'm posting this from an AOL trial connection, but I'm not using the AOL browser, just conecting through it and minimizing it so I can use FireFox instead
AOL/Time Warner is a VERY large corp that uses mainly Solaris and Linux as their server platforms. I wonder if this would continue to be the case if MS took over?
I am a lawyer. I have handled mergers. I cannot believe that the Justice Department could allow this to happen. I know they rolled over on the consent decree, but this would be too far even for them. Way too far.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
Microsoft has a rational for buying a telecoms company, considering the weak telecoms market at this moment.
People have to really consider that AOL is also a competitor that Microsoft wants to take out
But I cannot seem to find any history of restaments of earnings about this topic with microsoft.
but here you can read about the restatments from AOL to "reduce revenue by $190 million and would erase $97 million in qualified earnings from its books over a 21-month period"
It is very funny that Microsoft DID recently post a restatement of 2billion based on stock options, but I wonder if there was something else pidgonholed away in there.,
But veritas restated its earnings because of its dealings with AOL!
Introspection is the key to understanding