loyalty schmoyalty.

May 17, 2001 2:12 PM

loyalty schmoyalty. So now all the kids that work for AOL/TW (or however the acronym is supposed to be typed) must use AOL as the corporate email system. HA. Now, I've seen AOL's email ..... application. Holy lack of features, batman! And that bit about an "added level of security" with those ever-changing digit codes? Good luck. Eek.
posted by sarajflemming (17 comments total)

well.. SOMEONE has to use it.

bwhahaha.
posted by jcterminal at 2:33 PM on May 17, 2001

Maybe if enough high muckity-mucks have to "eat their own dogfood", there will be some pressure to add the features that most e-mail clients have had for years.
posted by harmful at 2:39 PM on May 17, 2001

Yeah, but before this they were using Notes, so it is a slight improvement.
posted by Mick at 3:17 PM on May 17, 2001

Does that mean they'll get twice as much spam from pr0n marketers too? And that they'll be reminded that nobody will ever ask for their logon name and password through email? I'd love to see what happens on the local network when hundreds of employees start wading through pop-up advertisements and "special offers" to get to their mailbox...
posted by salsamander at 3:26 PM on May 17, 2001

before this they were using Notes

Lotus is discontinuing Notes???
posted by kindall at 3:40 PM on May 17, 2001

Yeah, but before this they were using Notes, so it is a slight improvement.

notes? shudder a slight improvement, yes. like going from the fifthh to third level of hell.

;)
posted by fuzzygeek at 3:43 PM on May 17, 2001

Notes will be around for a while, since they managed to land the Fed. I'm so looking forward to converting. Luckily, the conversion is going so badly on the east coast that we won't see it here for years.

As for AOL, I bet a lot of employees manage to sneak in another client. You know, something that they can actually work on.
posted by frykitty at 3:45 PM on May 17, 2001

So how many times can you stand to hear You've got mail! during a conference call before you do something drastic with a stapler?

(Watch out, sarajflemming. I hear AOLTW has its eye on a certain kosher auto company...)
posted by carobe at 4:03 PM on May 17, 2001

My guess is that they were actually using Lotus's cc:Mail previously, since the report specifically states Lotus has discontinued the product they were previously using, which isn't true of Notes.
posted by kindall at 4:53 PM on May 17, 2001

What's worse is that they are forcing what were TimeWarner companies who had decent mail and calendaring systems (HBO Video used Exchange and Outlook) to change as well - losing untold zillions of personal address books before figuring out that AOL can't import them and users who weren't really aware of what was happening weren't given a chance to move or copy them before they were deleted...
posted by m.polo at 5:30 PM on May 17, 2001

So how many times can you stand to hear You've got mail! during a conference call before you do something drastic with a stapler?

I use AOL at home on a Mac. I've made a copy of the IM tinkle sound file, deleted the "You've got mail sound file", and renamed the copied file "You've got mail." So no more you've got mail; just the tinkle: much better.
posted by ParisParamus at 5:38 PM on May 17, 2001

Also, in case you don't know, IM Explorer+Outlook Express or Opera work great atop AOL.
posted by ParisParamus at 5:41 PM on May 17, 2001

"If you e-mail an assignment to me, you must send it in 'plain text' format. Go to the 'File' menu in Word, and select 'Save As', which will give you the option of saing your paper as 'plain text'."

I put that on my syllabus this quarter. My students hate that, but they gotta learn some time, right?
posted by rschram at 5:43 PM on May 17, 2001

Paris: In other words, You've Got Tinkle!
posted by kindall at 6:02 PM on May 17, 2001

P.S.: I'd like to use other sounds, but haven't figured out how to do that yet (At least not the ones in Mac OS.)
posted by ParisParamus at 6:32 PM on May 17, 2001

My favourite part of this article was the reference to the software company who complained about how difficult it was to deal with SUN. The representative of the software company was upset that the onus was on his company to make files compatable with the systems that SUN used.

Oooooooh. I have no pity for people who struggle with file formats. Just because it's popular doesn't mean it's right. There are plenty of file formats out there that will work cross platform and are easy/inexpensive/free to use. Sending a Microsoft specific file to SUN is the same as sending a letter written in english to someone who speaks french. Use some common sense please.


Also, If I were a Time Warner employee I would probably hate using AOL email but I would understand why I was expected to use it, if I were AOL/Time Warner management I would push for a more functional AOL email app before I tossed the current tools out the window.

Sorry for going on like that.
posted by the_ill_gino at 9:49 PM on May 17, 2001

I met some of the web staff from ABC news once, pre Disney. They had a deal with AOL for news, so were expected to use the AOL service for the internet.

They would fax thier stories and memos around.
posted by captaincursor at 1:59 AM on May 18, 2001