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AOL In Talks With Microsoft to Merge Online Divisions, Says WSJ
Ian Lamont writes "Microsoft executives are reportedly meeting with their AOL counterparts to discuss combining the two companies' online divisions. No one from either side is willing to comment, nor has the structure of the supposed deal been worked out.
The original unconfirmed report comes from the Wall Street Journal (password-protected). A few months ago there was talk about AOL teaming up with Yahoo, but that never materialized." The free excerpt at the WSJ link above seems to say about as much as this Bloomberg wire report which refers to it, and the above-linked story at The Standard; this Reuters story indicates that AOL is still courting or being courted by Yahoo!, too.
I, for one, welcome our new defunct-ISP-turned-corporate-content-provider overlords.
There are mountains to cross for those that are willing.
WTF is MS thinking these days...
Welcome to Web 1.0...
Fact: Everything I say is fiction.
Hooray....Now I only have to hate one company,
... I would have thought my penchant for snagging all the free AOL disks I see and using them as frisbees, coasters, and arranging them in strange geometric designs on my wall (ad-side hidden) would have drained all of their resources by now. So sad.
Seriously, wasn't BiX or CompuServe interested? Or is AOL just proprietary enough with a captive audience to appeal to Microsoft's way of thinking?
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Can't say anyone really cares much anymore about either one.
And I say that as a former shareholder of both.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
worstcompanyever tag on this one?
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
AOL Account cancellation policy for MS' new subscription based access to Office.
Prediction: The real iPhone killer is going to be sex robots from Japan. Think about it.
Keep the three letter acronym, but just change the first letter...
SOL!
No one from either side is willing to comment, nor has the structure of the supposed deal been worked out. The original unconfirmed report comes from the Wall Street Journal (password-protected). A few months ago there was talk about AOL teaming up with Yahoo, but that never materialized.
Translation:
We know absolutely nothing because nobody is talking about the unconfirmed idea that supposedly sort of was talked about some time ago.
WTF?
Would MS still have gone after AOL if they had a successful bid on Yahoo?
Beware of those who profit off the docile and persecute the unbelievers.
"Microsoft executives are reportedly meeting with their AOL counterparts to discuss combining the two companies' online divisions."
I'd be interested to know what America Online's Non-Online division does.
What else would they really be getting from AOL?
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
It's like the perfect storm of suck. Maybe that's their business model: suck so bad that nothing, not even light can escape.
Despite AOL being in the twilight of its existence, I think it would be an absolutely shrewd move on the executive's part to merge/sell-out to another company. That way, they have their buy-out packages as a between job buffer. Microsoft can gut the company and use their data centers and such. I won't have to deal with AOL as a browser or dial-up service on people's computers anymore. Everyone wins! [except the employees of AOL]
The game.
Microsoft wanted to buy AOL or compete directly with the MSN network and now they're back to that again.
Maybe they're thinking they can get a set of dedicated eyeballs to use with a revamped "Xbox-ish" live service (except for your GRANDMA!) on the PC and thus up their search engine hits for ad space...
Ballmer's craziness is also reflected in their other acquisitions. Why would they buy http://www.danger.com/ which has no integration with Windows Mobile? Only to make fight with Google's Android.
MS supposedly cost $10bn to develop (depending on what sources you read) and MS was prepared to spend $40bn for Yahoo. Surely MS should be thinking of spending more on fixing their core business.
Hey Ballmer, if you want to survive then you need to be less competitor focused and more customer focused. Don't let you megalomania divert you from core business.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
AOL users are probably also in the Vista fan club so this might actually be a good thing for M$. Several dozen more satisfied customers.
Wow. This would be the worst software conglomerate ever. On the other hand, it means that only one company would need to go bankrupt.
Tagged: companyfromhell.
Tomato wedge sperm darts that are Republican.
A sign of the times, desperation at Redmond .. ?
davecb5620@gmail.com
OMG... nothing screams "fail" like AOL. If MS had any brains, they would take AIM, maybe their web mail... and that's it. Just ask Time-Warner (or Ted Turner) about what a great boat anchor AOL is.
Sigh.
Anyway... from OP:
"this Reuters story indicates that AOL is still courting or being courted by Yahoo!, too."
Yahoo? Are they still around? Maybe AOL, Netscape, Yahoo, Prodigy, and Earthlink can all get together and make one huge "Glory Days" tech company. That would be great, it would let them keep all the fail in one place, sort of like the Republican party.
I'm sure AOL's IM portion is lucrative. With MS messenger and AIM, and already existing compatibility with yahoo networks, that pretty much leaves no-one else (with any significant market share).
Sheesh. Not off topic. Mod parent up. The first post reflects the disrespect that technically knowledgeable people generally feel.
But, "AOLSoftHooMSN" is not a sufficiently euphonious name for the combined company of Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft. I suggest Yaolsoft, as in Yaaaoooowwwwlllsoft.
Microsoft is also bidding to take over the Catholic Church, as part of Steve Ballmer's (unlikely) scheme to go to heaven.
In more interesting news, I used "euphonious" in a sentence for the first time.
All "news" from the WSJ is suspect now that it is owned by Rupert Murdoch. It is now in the same family as page six in the New Your Post. I think I would look elsewhere for reliable business news.
I would think for dialup, people are gonna go with AOL or MSN because those are the names out there. It's been years n years since I've used dialup or even remember seeing a local place advertise for it. The way websites are getting crazier and crazier stuffing content onto them Microsoft knows that the best way to secure future high speed users is to have them as current dialup users.
*DrugCheese rants*
N/T
Fact: Everything I say is fiction.
"YAOSoft". Has a distinctly Chinese ring to it. Like a good media monopoly should.
--
make install -not war
Also covered at ComputerWorld
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9110207
... paying everyone who forwards an e-mail message $245.00
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/microsoft-aol.asp
Life imitates an urban legend. Shit.
Imagine what wonderful quality products they will out with!!!
oops my bad..
What better way to secure your future than merge yourself with a failing online business (AOL)? WTF is MS thinking these days...
Maybe they figure they are a better culture match than with Yahoo. AOL was about lucklaster ads, controlling user experience, inconsistent interfaces, sneaking your products into every device, and closed standards. A match made in heaven!
Table-ized A.I.
They are thinking of "AOSmell"?
Or, maybe this is about ms getting ready to start giving away ms windows vista on CDs in cereal boxes, mini-DVDs on cigarette packs, and on Hot Rod magazine?
Or, maybe they see themselves as the "starter account" newbies go to before graduating to Apple or Open Source...
(Yeh, go ahead.... mark me "troll".)
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
will be homers new email/spam address?
-- Sex is the antonym of pringles. Once you pop it's time to stop.
Evil, meet stupid. Stupid... evil. The only question is which is which...
That is all.
So, do you have a website?
AOL should seriously consider joining The SCO Group. Two dodo's (Albatross for the moment maybe?) with one stone.
It's off topic, but their name was a major hindrance to expansion. Call a firm America OnLine.... then try to sell it to me, who happens to live in England, which is quite a long way from America. Most companies learn that global branding goes a long way. AOL didn't. If they'd had the brains they'd have rebranded in Europe. Maybe EOL.... ah, It's a small thing, but pennies make a pound at the end of the day.
Still, having thought about it: but then there's Asia, Africa, Australasia and Antarctica. Maybe they should have rebranded Europe instead. Auropa is quite snappy.
Less likely than en ex-member of the Hitler Youth?
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
So what does AOL bring to the table again?
This is just what we need: coasters you can only use with drinks licensed by Microsoft.
I guess this means soon I'll start getting a stream of Vista CDs in the mail and I can "upgrade" my coasters. Pretty handy in the hot & humid weather here, I'll tell you.
Have you heard the news? We will soon be getting Windows 7 CDs in the mail offering a free 3 month trial. And if you try to cancel at the end of your 3 months, Microsoft will indefinitely prolong your free subscription.
This could mean YOU.
expandfairuse.org
You have to think like an evil company a bit more. IM can reveal a lot about online habits - especially when it shows "idle" or "online" status. That part alone gives MS a whole lot of usage data about when people are at their computer, which we can assume runs windows.
If they wanted to be truly evil, they could certainly mine the data anonymously to see what the hot topics of conversation are.
More realistically, IM ads are not necessarily used for click-based advertising. There are whole product placement deals out there that rely on just being seen. For example, a Coke or Pepsi ad at this point is serving no purpose other than to simply remind someone that it exists - it's strengthening the brand image, not trying to make you go click on a website and buy some right now. With ~50% of market share, the "Real men of genius" budweiser ads are similar, just giving the brand an image instead of touting how much like urine it tastes.
Contextual IM advertising would not be out of the question now that google has been successful at keyword-based e-mail adverts.
The real point I think would be to be able to say "no matter what they do online, they can see an advertisement from our company. With google they have to be searching for something" Remember, online advertising is all about selling space that nearly all users hate and ignore.
everyone i set up a computer for i install trillian or some other similar multi-client IM. these have no ads. does MSN monitor these since the something like trillian is only on the client side or are they able to tell that this person is using MSN exclusively? anyway everyone that i have installed a milti-client for and removed either yahoo, msn or AIM have loved it touting how they hated all the junk they had to constantly close or minimize. i would think this trend would be growing.
Please will somebody play with us? Please! Why won't anyone play with us? Mr Yahoo will you play with us? Why not? What do you mean untrustworthy? WHY WON'T ANYONE PLAY WITH US?
AOL as one of the shittiest online services on the face of the planet (save only comcast), and microsoft as the biggest predator in i.t. world, together.
god mercy on us.
Read radical news here
re: fuck off you bought and paid for AstroWhore .. :)
davecb5620@gmail.com
Will it become AIMSN?
It's going to be funny to watch, given Apple's association with AOL for AIM/iChat.
Other than AIM, I guess, I don't know offhand of anything that AOL owns that's worthwhile. Mapquest, maybe... I can't see anything else off their home page that's really compelling...
"Captain! Captain! Our boat do be sinkin! Wha' should we do, argh?"
"There be one thing we can do, argh. Lob our anchor onto that other sinking vessel thar and hope it hooks in deep."
"But Captain, that ship, she do already be near below the surface herself!"
"Lad, you do know nothing about these waters. Two ships sinking together do be better than one alone."
"Captain, you're fricken retarded."
"That's as may be, my lad. That's as may be."
Those who have telepathy have no need to RTFA.
[MicroSoft On Line] - MSOL has a better ring to it.
Whoosh!
MS would then control two if its major competitors: AIM/ICQ (with MSN Messenger) and Winamp (With Windows Media Player). This would be terrible.
MicroAOL will merge with BonziBUDDY.