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AIM Mail
Filed Under (Rant, Reviews, The Internet) by Marc Moss on 08-06-2005

AOL has recently launched yet another web-based email service. Occasionally, when I am on the air I use AIM Express while in the studio. Whoever is in control of the computer there has permissions locked down, and Messenger is not installed (and, sadly, neither is Firefox) and I sometimes have reason to IM with folks.

Because of this, I received, today, in my regular email account, a notice from AOL that the new mail service had been launched. To save the rest of you the hassle of signing up for an account to take it for a test drive, I’ve done it for you. Login to this AIM Mail account I created with the following:

screename=not5real

PW=aimmailsucks

You can see for yourself what I mean.

My initial thoughts are, well, look at the password I provided, and you can tell my initial thoughts. And here’s why:

  1. Gmail does it best
  2. Even Hotmail is better than AIM Mail
  3. OK those weren’t really reasons
  4. Neither is this: I am just acknowledging that I was merely pointing out what AIM Mail is not
  5. AIM Mail’s advertising is too in-your-face
  6. Limited functionality: 2G of storage — so what? Where’s my free email FWDing? Where’s my free POP?
  7. Composing a message opens a pop-up window
  8. The GUI is intuitive, but the pageloads are slow, and I tested from a T-1 line
  9. Did I mention Gmail?
  10. It’s AOL for crying out loud! One of THE WORST service providers around.

Google has raised the bar for web-based email ridiculously high, and I cannot fathom how a better free web-based service would look.

So do yourself a favor, if you had any inkling of giving it a try, use the above login to take it for a drive first.

BTW, if anyone needs an invite, let me know and I’ll get you one. It may not come directly from the linked address, but you’ll get one.

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Comments:
4 Comments posted on "AIM Mail"
peppermintlisa on June 9th, 2005 at 7:25 am #

what’s the spam quotient on g-mail?


Marc on June 9th, 2005 at 8:52 am #

In the six months I’ve had Gmail, I’ve had approximately five pieces of spam in about 4 accounts. Every time Gmail recognizes it as such and throws it into the Spma folder.

Meanwhile, here are some of the comments from the folks over @ Blogcritics….

You are a tech-elitist snob. AIM mail is AWESOME and incredibly fast! Of course there will be ads… its a FREE service. Get lost loser…

Comment 2 posted by Natalie Davis on June 8, 2005 10:12 PM:

Geez, if postings like this generate rotten insults, it’s no wonder the politics-themed postings are such a hideous minefield. Where are the moderators, for heaven’s sake? I thought personal insults were verboten.

The author offered an opinion as well as an opportunity for people to form their own. Why stoop to namecalling?

Comment 3 posted by Marc on June 9, 2005 10:45 AM:

Brian must not have read the official comment policy.

Anyway, yes, AIM Mail is a free service. I expect the ads. That is not my gripe. If you read the post, I said that the ads are too intrusive. Sure, Homail, Yahoo, hell, even Gmail have ads, but they are much less intrusive than AIM’s. Especially Gmail’s. No Flash banner ads at all.

Thanks, Natalie, for realizing what I was doing.

Marc

—-

What I really wanted to say to ‘ole Brian is…

Aww, the AIM tech impaired creature is becoming defensive and violent. Speak to it in soft, soothing tones, and it won’t bite you.

People who use AIM for anything other than IM are all but automatically dismissed as credible. If I am doping buisiness with someone and he has an AIM email address, he loses any kind of respect I may have had for him, and he must earn it back.


KarbonKountyMoos on June 13th, 2005 at 9:56 am #

Gmail is great. Do you use Thunderbird? I wouldn’t be without Firefox now, but I seem to have problems with Thunderbird.


Marc on June 13th, 2005 at 10:02 am #

I don’t use Thunderbird, I use Mac’s default email client, Mail Which I love.


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