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AOL vs The Internet PCwebster © July 2001 Editor's note: An update regarding AOL is at the end of this article. Question: "The AOL browser is not compatible to access the administration tools and features of our site", said one webmaster. Why? Answer: There is an all out war going on between those who promote the Internet and powerful corporations who are attempting to stifle the growth of the Internet. AOL is just one example. AOL pretends to be the internet, restricts user access to web sites that don't pay them. This article details how AOL does that. We've watched it since 1997. AOL has steadily driven up the cost to growing millions by scaring unsophisticated users and eliminating AOL competitors. The loss of the healthy competition once provided by Netscape is when I began looking in depth. Studies of AOL abound on the Internet. Using seemingly harmless advertising, AOL leads new users to believe the Internet is "easier" if you use AOL. That implies the Internet is hard. Hard? That's ridiculous. In fact, there is extraordinary evidence that in order to enhance their sponsors' web sites, AOL has made the world wide web less, not more, desirable to navigate. A business person using AOL email to communicate automatically sends the wrong message -- they identify themselves as being new to the internet, inexperienced -- with their AOL email address. The first clue to the problem comes from studying the AOL web browser and ask yourself why AOL feels the need to have their own browser design when Microsoft IE is far and away the universally favored web site browser. You soon realize that the AOL browser does nothing more than make: 1) AOL sponsors easier to find, 2) AOL sponsors' pages easier to navigate, resulting in 3) AOL sponsors being easier to do business with. The obvious question, how does the AOL browser treat the millions of web sites that don't partner up with or get "recommended" by (pay) AOL? It stands to reason that web sites which compete with AOL sponsors might be presented differently by the AOL browser. Normally there's nothing wrong with that, it's business. But AOL has confused users into believing that AOL is "the" internet, which means users who become attracted to the "easier" AOL message are missing out on lower prices, newer technology, better services and the unlimited choices found in the competitive environment offered by the world wide web. I think those free CDs should contain the warning: "Caution: AOL may not provide an accepted standard of access to the honest-to-goodness Internet." Psychology works. AOL ads imply that without their help it will be hard to get information, to order products, to communicate with friends, to be accepted. So repeatedly loud is this message that impressionable users believe AOL "IS" the Internet. They'll believe nothing else. Try suggesting to an AOL user that there are higher quality, less expensive, and more diverse services elsewhere and you may be surprised. Many will vigorously defend AOL. Others will refuse to listen. Die-hard users get red faced mad at the thought of being weaned from the AOL breast. Moving from kindergarten to first grade for many of us would never have happened were we not forced to do so. Trained as a flight instructor, I know that the lessons (mistakes) first learned are the hardest to undo. The fear of losing one's umbilical is not surprising. Therein lies the secret to the success behind AOL; millions of casual Internet users, not allowed to learn that there are other options, have become incredibly dependent upon AOL. It's human nature to want someone to lead you. Some take advantage of that. Clinton. Manson. Crazy Jim Jones convinced 300 hapless adults to kill their kids, then themselves, drinking arsenic laced Kool Aid. A bit of "AOL-makes-it-so-easy-for-you" brainwashing has been going on aimed at a society that would have trouble giving up TV for ten minutes. Are growing millions being primed for a cyber tracking chip under their skin? It may come with that free CD. Could we be wrong? Is AOL so darn good that it's simply addictive? Taking a closer look at AOL's actions may answer that:
It's obvious the stakes against internet users is growing, and that AOL will further distance itself from the Internet they claim to be helping users with. Why would AOL play that way? Unfortunately, the Internet is just a game to the many behind it -- average age middle 20's -- who just happen to have billions of dollars backing up their programming skills. The "my code is better than yours" has long been a childish problem which all we Internet users suffer from in one way or another. The headlines are full of "dot com" bankruptcies to prove the point that inexperience catches up with young owners and managers who can't help but make one bumbling business decision after another. The AOL story is far from over. How did AOL get so big? Simple. It was among the first to offer Internet access to mostly uneducated users. Like rolling snow men in a good snow, with so many new users taking what they're being told is the "easiest" pill to the Internet, AOL keeps on getting bigger. For all these reasons, web site owners, webmasters and everyday users have anxiously awaited the truth behind AOL's restrictive and intrusive software to become known to those millions who feel they need to hang onto AOL. Those law suits may prove us right. Unfortunately, the battle may also be far from over. Uneducated users who don't understand the problem can't possibly want a solution. To any AOL user ready to listen, and who's looking for the truly easy Internet, we suggest you take off the training wheels and test drive a higher grade ISP. There are many in your phone books under "Internet Service Providers" (yes, you can have more than one ISP on your computer at the same time, I have three, in case one is slow or not working). A growing number of ISP's are 100 times "broadband" faster than AOL. Any of them can give you complete, user friendly access, to ALL world wide web sites. Most offer unlimited use and a local phone number. Be sure to verify services before ordering. Talk to previous AOL users, they've done the work for you, ask which ISP they'd recommend switching to. Independent ISP's will be tickled to talk you through the easy download, proudly show off their product, and let you compare it FREE for 30 days...ISP's love the "oohs" and "aahs" of former AOL users. If that's a little too fast or scary, hike over to any public library, or a friend's house, boot up any computer not hooked to AOL. Although we don't know the total number who've quit AOL ( for another ISP) we have been told that "over 100,000 AOL users switched to Mindspring.com" last year. Consider this. Had I been able to advertise what you just read, matching AOL dollar for dollar hour after hour, month after month, year after year, would AOL exist as it does today? Of course not. The fact is that when given the opportunity to compare Internet browsers, awakened users have dumped AOL with mind-boggling speed. Thank me later for mentioning the Kool Aid. Tom D. PCwebster © July 2001
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