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AOL To Charge for AIM Videoconferences
gwoodrow writes "In some of my college computer classes, we discussed the necessity of some sort of profit to be made eventually from major software. AIM was often sited as a rare example of a large company offering up a free service that generated almost no profit whatsoever. Well, that's all changing. It seems that AOL will begin charging for both voice and video conferencing services via the buddy list. Some AIM addicts are surely getting worried that AOL may eventually charge for regular usage."
The article doesn't say anything about charging for video. AOL is introducing a conference call service (like a group chat, only for voice) that they will be charging money for. Now they say you'll be able to integrate video with these conference calls, which sounds cool, but nothing users can currently do free will now cost money
Right now it means NOTHING.... everyone is jumping to conclusions instead of RTFA'ing (shrug, I feel new here).
They are taking services from two other providers (I've used WebEx, it's a decent web conference) and allowing them to initiate a voice and/or web conference (multiple particpants). This is a new service for AOL and does not effect a one on one conversation or video conference in any way.
Uh, wrong. You can video chat between AIM and iChat, it's just audio that doesn't work right now...
According to http://www.apple.com/ichat, iChat AV 2.1 supports videoconferencing with the new AOL Instant Messenger 5.5 for Windows, giving you immediate access to the millions of people in both the Mac and PC communities.
I dunno who it is
but it prolly is fhqwhgads.
This is already happening in many countries. While I was in Turkey, every movie was preceded by cellular sevice commercials, hair care products, beer, cigarettes, and the usual movie previews. Then the middle of the movie was punctuated by intermission. There were no commercials, but static ads. It's only a matter of time before that idea leaks to more parts of the worls.