If you have a computer (Or even if you don’t) than you have definitely heard of America Online or AOL. This Virginia based Online Service has risen from being a small closed in proprietary service specializing in teen chat to the leader of the major online services. Nowadays AOL is at the top of the list, having vanquished its main competitors among the commercial online services (CompuServe, Prodigy).
So with its immense popularity AOL must be pretty good right?
Nope. Sorry. Popular does not equal good as AOL proves.
The Good things about AOL
Ease Of Use: This is what makes AOL popular among people who have had little or no experience with computers. Like the commercials say, ’’AOL is so easy to use no wonder it’s #1!”
Some good forums: AOL has a wide variety of various forums consisting of message boards and chat rooms. While a lot of them can be found in better incarnations on the web, there is some exclusive content on there that is exclusive in the true sense.
Instant Messaging: Perfected on the web originally, Instant Messaging is an idea that AOL has taken and run with. Instant Messaging is very fun and useful for talking to friends and family.
Those (along with the fact that I have a large number of friends there and the web page space) are the reasons that I stick with AOL
The Bad Things About AOL
Censorship: AOL has very strict rules about content. While it doesn’t seem unreasonable that you are not allowed to use swear words in Kid areas, you are not allowed to say them in adult areas either. It’s not just swear words that will get you in trouble either. A friend of mine on AOL almost lost her account for using the word ’’penis’’ on an adult humor message board. Another friend got in trouble for using the word ’’laid’’.
Access: While access is not as bad as it was in late 1996/early 1997 when the AOL servers maxed out because of AOL’s switch to unlimited access without being properly prepared, it is still a far cry from what it could be. Busy signals are common as are logoffs for no reason. What has also been cropping up recently is a tendency for the connection process to stop at a certain point and stay there. Also the access speed is so slow.
Software: While the AOL software is easy to use it is also very lacking. For instance the e-mail software is missing many features that most other e-mail programs use. No encoding, no way of organizing e-mail. Recently they got around to adding a signature in version 6.0. But AOL is still way behind other mail programs in terms of handling e-mail.
Web Browser: It’s slow as hell. It doesn’t support many of the advanced HTML features. Java is not supported at all and web graphics look like garbage. Worst of all it caches or saves each page in its memory instead of opening it fresh each time. The AOL Web browser should only be used once, to download a better one.
FTP. Way behind the times. Doesn’t let you upload more than one file at once. This is especially annoying if you’re trying to upload a multi page site to the web.
Tech Support: AOL claims in their commercials that Customer service is always there to help. That statement is only partially true however. Yes, customer service is there 24 hours a day. But good luck in actually getting any help from them. Often when you call and ask a question, you usually get told the problem is either with your computer or your modem.
Crashes: Out of all the software programs I have ever used, AOL is the one that crashes the most.
So what it comes down to is.
AOL The Biggest? Yes
The Best? Not by a long shot.
(Note: If you are using AOL and want better access. But don’t want to leave your friends or a particular forum there; you can set up a Bring Your Own Access account. Sign up with an ISP and sign on to AOL through them. That way you can still get at the content you like on AOL and run better software from the ISP.)