Problem
The ultimate marketing plan. Push free samples of a drug
until people are addicted and then charge them a fortune and make them afraid to
quit.
Except it's not a drug. It's a way for people to access the Internet --
web, email, and all -- that's so easy, you don't have to have the slightest clue
what you're doing after months (or even years) of use. And you may not
even be concerned about who you are annoying
across the globe with using all capital letters or other breaches of netiquette.
After you pop in the free AOL CD-ROM in one of it's many
incarnations and endless color schemes, you're on your way to establishing a
buyer habit that will cost you wads of cash, your freedom of non-AOL/Time-Warner
news and shopping, and even your respect in the eyes of people who would
otherwise consider doing business with you. It's amazing AOL even tried to
market it for small businesses.
I have never heard of ANYONE switching to AOL after using real
internet tools to surf the WHOLE world wide web. Like
Earthlink's
switch-from-AOL campaign said, "It's time to take off the trainer's wheels."
Advice
(1) DO NOT install AOL if you plan to use any other web
browsers, dialups, or mail clients. If it's too late, uninstall all of them and
re-install. You may have to reinstall Windows as well.
(2) DO not install (or uninstall) more than one version of AOL
on your system. It DOES NOT UPGRADE well, but instead gives you multiple
copies of files, multiple shortcuts, etc..
(3) DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES install any BETA
(experimental) version for testing. Do not be AOL's guinea pig, unless you don't
mind potentially loosing everything on your system. Such things should be left
to the experts using test PCs. Wait until the bugs are out before you even
think about upgrading ANY software, especially from AOL.
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Articles & Resources
^ Feel free to send this card to friends
... as a friendly hint, of course!
Or for a not-so-friendly note ...
 |
Legislation
Most AOLers don't know what they're missing or that they're
being directed all the time to advertisements, products, and services that
AOL/Time-Warner had vested interest in. In fact, any other Internet
service that pushes that much advertising is bargain-basement priced, or more
commonly, FREE. But while going after Microsoft, no one seems to care
about the information monopolistic tendencies of the multi-mega-media giant that
owns AOL.
However, there are occasionally class-action lawsuits against
AOL for it's software, especially earlier versions that "took over" the
computer's ability to properly use other Internet connections. For
example, consistent with its monopoly-like practices, AOL released version 5.0,
which upon installation seemed to systematically sabotage non-AOL dialup
connections and non-AOL browsers. AOL was actually sued for releasing this
version, which has allegedly damaged
software and operating systems on countless thousands (perhaps millions) of
users across the nation, resulting in millions of dollars in tech support.
Click
HERE for more information on one of the class-action lawsuits. Lawsuits for releasing version 6.0 or newer
may have happened or may be pending.
Getting Even
/ Moving On
An AOL email or web address is a sure-fire way to let the rest
of us know you are not serious about the internet. You may be professional and
even net-savvy, but that is not by any means the image of a typical AOL user,
and people will judge you for it.
The internet shouldn't be a toy-like, oversimplified, and
therefore limited experience. It is much easier than you think for almost
anyone to learn the basics of the internet, but you are discouraged from
learning even the basics by the AOL environment. Most importantly, if you "take
off the trainer's wheels," you won't be left in the dark, and will be able to
intelligently converse with serious internet users and even technical support
people.
If you are tired of AOL, its problems, prices, and propaganda,
there are MANY good alternatives. Services comparable in quality to AOL are
often free, but I don't recommend them. However, if you want a more reliable
connection without all the advertisements, pay a local provider $17-or-so per
month for a solid service. Some high quality national providers, such as
Earthlink and
MSN, cost almost as much as AOL, but it's a
no-brainer when comparing them.
