Mind Architecture Happenings

I have said for years that the biggest virus we have in America today is AOL. Why? Whenever I have had to fix a computer that had AOL on it, we either took off AOL and it was fixed or we couldn’t ever get it working right without wiping it out and reinstalling things. Personal experience has led me to hate the AOL software. Plus, I don’t like paying them and getting ads shoved down my throat when I sign on if using dial up. As a developer, I have to spend extra time testing web site project using the AOL browser because many people don’t realize they can use standard IE or Firefox. If you think IE is bad, the AOL browser is worse. They have done many things to change the AOL browser and that has caused a lot of incompatibilities.

My biggest problem with AOL is what they’ve gotten many people to believe. That is that AOL is better than the internet and you need AOL to get on and experience the internet. Most people I talk with don’t even use the proprietary AOL content yet still pay AOL to get on the web. In fact, some people think AOL is the web. I get asked ‘Can I get to that on AOL?’

Basically, it’s a matter of them marketing and making people believe one thing without actually lying. Of course, if people don’t try to learn about things and just take what they are spoon fed in marketing materials, it’s their own fault. Most people I know that wise up and learn a bit about the internet get rid of AOL.

As if that wasn’t enough, this bit http://insignificantthoughts.com/2006/06/13/cancelling-aol/ is a phone call of someone trying to cancel their AOL account. Now, I can’t swear it’s a true recording, but it sure sounds like it could be considering the dealings I’ve had with AOL myself. Go to the site and see for yourself after you listen.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 11th, 2006 at 1:21 pm and is filed under Rants and Raves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.