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AOL To Charge for AIM Videoconferences

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the a/s/l dept.

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."

5 of 371 comments (clear)

  1. No they wont' charge for AIM by jkeyes · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why charge for AIM when you can slowly put ads on the AIM conversation windows ala ICQ.

    1. Re:No they wont' charge for AIM by crazyray · · Score: 5, Interesting

      ...and what makes you think they wouldn't do both?

    2. Re:No they wont' charge for AIM by Moofie · · Score: 5, Interesting

      *raises hand* Yep.

      I hate those damn commercials. So far, they haven't totally eroded my desire to go to the movie theater, but they're on track to do just that.

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    3. Re:No they wont' charge for AIM by Brissie_lad · · Score: 5, Interesting

      We've had 10 to 20min of ads before the feature at Australian movie theaters for as long as I've been going to the movies - and thats a good 25+ years.

      --
      Slackware - because apt is for the lazy.
  2. Hmmm... by Lobo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder what this means for iChat?

    Just AOL IM or all using the protocol?

    --

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    Bite Me Fanboy!!