AOL's New Alto Client Is Visual Email, and You Don't Need a New Address

pigrabbitbear writes "AOL, still looking to reboot itself from the dialup days, is shooting to actually change the way we deal with email. The company's new service, called Alto, isn't a new email client. You don't have to sign up for yet another email address, because as David Temkin, AOL's senior VP of mail said, 'We need another email address like we need a hole in the head.' Instead, Alto, which is in limited release starting today, is designed to be an intelligent aggregator of the email accounts you already have."

Comments

Terms of service?

[Lord Byron II]

Well, since this means that you'll be reading your @gmail.com email through Alto, instead of through Gmail, it also means that you'll be seeing AOL ads and not Google ads. How long will it be until Google, Yahoo, and Apple change their API or terms of service to ban this?

Re:Terms of service?

[Samantha Wright]

I'm not convinced Google would—after all, they already offer free POP and IMAP. As does Apple, and iCloud doesn't even have ads in it. (I think?)

And this is better than...

[Genda]

Thunderbird or Outlook HOW?

Alto = web-based email client

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> Alto...is...an...aggregator of the email accounts you already have."

Aha - a web-based email client.

Re:Alto = web-based email client

[SeaFox]

>> Alto...is...an...aggregator of the email accounts you already have."

Aha - a web-based email client.

I read it like this:

AOL (in pitiful voice): "Please, oh please give us your email credentials and let us datamine all your accounts. Nobody wants to use our email addresses anymore!"

Yep, sounds like a web-based email client

[neminem]

Quoth, for instance: "Theyâ(TM)re like folders or labels, but managed through an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, and allowing users to decide that they want to make large swaths of their email bypass the main inbox entirely, to be saved in Stacks where they can be read later."

So... like folders or labels, but with filters on them! You know, filters, like Thunderbird and gmail have both supported since basically the beginning of time?

Re:Wow

[CanHasDIY]

Alto isn't a new email client. You don't have to sign up for yet another email address

Now, somebody enlighten me: since when, if one switches email clients, the one needs to get another email address?

Since the definition of "email client" changed from "software you use to read your emails" to "corporation that provides your email service via the web browser," apparently.

In other news.

[Psyko]

AOL's 3 remaining customers are going to use a new application to aggregate their mail from services that already provide more functionality than AOL does in an attempt to show relevant value and usefulness. One of the 3 customers, known simply as "granma" was quoted as saying "Now I don't have to remember all those complicated things like gee mails and yahooie for when I need to tell my grandson that the guv'ment is going to start charging for email, or if I forward this message bill gates is going to give me a dollar!".

Cool story, would read again, +1, +like & stuff. Need's more bitcoin.

Re:Wow

[Dishevel]

Since we were talking about AOL? You're "one stop shop" to the Interwebs, including their nice fancy proxies?

I am NOT a "one stop shop"!
I would like you to stop insinuating that I am!

Only supports AOL, GMail, Yahoo & iCloud

[mattbee]

I tried to request an invitation for my self-hosted address. "That email system is not supported". Thanks. So it's only for people that have more than one account on the above list apparently.