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Microsoft Eyeing AOL?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the come-here-sweetie-and-give-daddy-a-kiss dept.

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.

23 of 449 comments (clear)

  1. AOL a Dog? by dolo666 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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. :-)

    1. Re:AOL a Dog? by somethinghollow · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I think the real question is: Why would Microsoft, who has a failing ISP, want to buy AOL, who is a failing ISP? AOL are in competition with Microsoft. It seems like their business strategy could incorporate buying all the competition and dissolving them. While ignorant AOL users don't realize it, Microsoft is offering a better service (e.g. the REAL Internet). In short, I don't think Microsoft can learn anything from AOL.

      Despite the fact that AOL/Netscape has fired most (if not all?) of the Mozilla developers, I'm sure (assuming Netscape was part of the aquisition) Microsoft would jump and the slap-in-the-face it could give the OSS community at large.

      And AOL owns Nullsoft. Assuming that is part of the Aquisition, it would be another interesting sping.

      I'm sure the list could go on if I got bored. But it's all based on assumptions about what Microsoft would get with the purchase.

  2. That.. by LordNor · · Score: 4, Interesting

    could be very very bad... Say goodbye to AIM!

    1. Re:That.. by strictnein · · Score: 2, Interesting

      More likely, the update to AIM you install will magically turn it into MSN messenger

      Yeah, just like how AOL did with ICQ when it acquired it.

      Did AOL just buy ICQ to kill it?

      --
      Casual Games/Downloads
    2. Re:That.. by Rallion · · Score: 2, Interesting

      We are talking a company that took 6 years to get rid of a setting in Outlook that automatically opened any file attachments. And you couldn't disable it.

      And that's stupid? Not really. Just lazy. I doubt it cost them that much money, and you know what? Nothing else matters. At all. A company with bad software is not necessarily stupid, especially if they manage to sell that bad software as well as MS has.

  3. What about Netscape ? by geirt · · Score: 3, Interesting

    America Online acquired Netscape Communications $4.2 billion dollars in 1998 ...

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    RFC1925
  4. Certainly could happen by Marxist+Commentary · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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

  5. Where's the content? by LostCluster · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

  6. Re:Those who can, do. Those who can't, buy. by LostCluster · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

  7. Talking about it for years... by nyc_paladin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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
  8. Not just AIM... by cbv · · Score: 4, Interesting

    America Online has the right to buy a $22m chunk of Google, according to a filing by parent Time Warner.

  9. MS - AOL - Google( shares ) by shankariyer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Hmm...

    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?tag =n efd_top

    May god help net

  10. No home for AOL by stecoop · · Score: 2, Interesting

    AOL/Time Warner Dumped AOL. This isn't a big deal, lots of companies do something similarly - IBM comes to mind.

    Now I can't imagine any /.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.

    The question is what technologies does MS want? Netscape, AIM - what else?

  11. ICQ didn't disappear when AOL bought them. by Jonathan+Quince · · Score: 2, Interesting
    [That] could be very very bad... Say goodbye to AIM!

    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
  12. AOL + MS = big economic drain by jpellino · · Score: 2, Interesting

    in the millions of man-hours needed to retool all known scales of, measures of, and references to 'corporate suckage'

    admit it - the majority of /.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

    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."
  13. AOL's free products by ReNeGaDe75 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.
  14. Simply make them intercompatible by Marnhinn · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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
  15. Not the corporate version by autopr0n · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.
  16. Time Warner says "no" by DrAvenarius · · Score: 2, Interesting

    News.com

    --
    No se vayan todavia, aun hay mas. http://www.error500.net
  17. OSS AOLServer by sadangel · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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".

  18. Suck consolidation by kitzilla · · Score: 2, Interesting
    At least an AOL/Microsoft merger would consolidate a lot of lameness in one place. ;-)

    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.
  19. EU Issues by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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....

  20. Re:I read something like this... by jafac · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The current administration (neoconservetive/market fundamentalist/ultranationalist) attitude on monopolies and competition is; if they can find ANY relationship that can be twisted to sound like "competition", they'll use that. The ends justify the means, and if that means allowing US corporations to grow into monopolistic behemoths, then so be it. The end goal, of course, is to maintain economic dominance over European corporations, at all costs.

    When the Microsoft/EU case develops a bit further, watch the Bush administration try to spin it as an Anti-US attack, and paint the EU as socialist dupes, a sign of the resurgence of the "Old Europe". Watch the UK do something to screw up the EU's resolve, and watch Microsoft get off scott-free. Again.

    --

    These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.