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Why did AOL force Netscape Mail users to move to AIM Mail? »
Posted by: ck 2 years, 1 month ago"Hi, my name is James and I am the "business owner" for AOL and AIM Webmail and ultimately made the decision that this migration needed to happen, and I am "borrowing" Tae's blog for a post..."
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Submitted By:
ck
Once upon a time, I was the Managing Editor, Director, and Lead Anchor for Netscape and a contributor to various Weblogs, Inc. blogs, including TV ...
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Comments: 122
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michaelgoonan
Aug. 30, 2006, 3:54 p.m.I can understand the reasoning behind it, but I still don't think it should've been a forced move.
Think about this:
1. Netscape Mail had very few ads, AIM Mail has A LOT of ads
2. Netscape Mail had a clean, fast loading interface, AIM Mail takes forever to load and has a clunky interface.
3. I highly doubt that anybody was anywhere close to exceeding their 250 MB limit. That's what I have on my mail and I'm only using 2 %. So there's really no need to upgrade to and insane 2 GB.
4. Many longtime users were already comfortable with Netscape mail and using it for many years. They really didn't feel like changing.
I didn't use Netscape mail as a primary account, but I have used it as well as AIM Mail, and although AIM mail had better all around features, I would rather use Netscape mail because it loads much faster and has a cleaner interface with less ads.
Continued below.....
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michaelgoonan
Aug. 30, 2006, 3:57 p.m.Instead of making your users move to an unfamiliar platform whether they like it or not, why not bring the Netscape mail service "up to standards" with competitors? I know you'll say "Because we already have AOL mail". News flash - Once upon a time AOL and Netscape were different companies, and once upon a time many people made the decision to choose Netscape mail over AOL mail. They did that for a reason. Don't make them switch if they don't want to. What would've been a better move would be to give Netscape Mail IMAP access, and a calendar, not move users to a totally different service.
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nationgrrl
Aug. 30, 2006, 4:02 p.m.You asked for feedback on features or the lack thereof. A drawback with the current mail is that we can't cut and paste info from or to email. Hate having to forward emails to another address to do this!
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MISSYBEE837
Aug. 30, 2006, 4:52 p.m.This transfer made all my saved emails and drafts dissapear. Great I really needed that. Now there is no way of getting them back.
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kcclark
Aug. 30, 2006, 5:10 p.m.According to James:
"* Netscape Mail did not offer IMAP access (so you can use Thunderbird or Outlook) AIM Mail does"
I think James lacks some knowledge when it comes to Netscape Mail. I've been accessing my Netscape Mail via IMAP since Netscape 7.1 came out. Netscape 7 email actually set up the Netscape Webmail account for you. You just had to provide your email address and password and the rest was done for you.
KC
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Razor
Aug. 30, 2006, 5:14 p.m.It's OK. I just wish you would get some adults posting the news blog. Some days its the only news I get. On my way to email its nice to see whats happening in the world, and not hear days later on CNN (comunist new network)the half of Georgia fell into the sea.....Thanks. Keep adding more features....
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JRB1
Aug. 30, 2006, 5:44 p.m.I have had my Netscape mail account for ten years and it always worked. I only had to look at my messages not a bunch of ads for things I don't want or need. I had a full page, not a corner at the bottom. This is the usual that I would expect from AOL. They sent me a message to my netscape mail about the changes. The problem is I couldn't get the message until I set up the AIM mail account. I spent upwards of two hours trying to find out why my login to Netscape mail didn't work. Now the problem is that it takes longer to get my messages plus some of the advertisements overlap on some of the arrow buttons. I have three Email accounts, one with Earthlink and the others with Netscape. WHICH one do you think I'm going to use for my business. Big problem is that all my customers have the Netscape account so I will have to change everything over gradually but IT WILL BE DONE. Whoever James is, THANKS for nothing. Your problem is that one less person is going to be looking at the ads.
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Gabe_Damage
Aug. 30, 2006, 6:05 p.m.Yo sigo FELIZ con mi Netscape.net ahora AOL, mientras funcione con Mozilla Thunderbird, lo demas no me interesa.
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gmc06
Aug. 30, 2006, 6:24 p.m.what the f@&%! i just found out it doesn't even ask me if i want to BE remembered. i don't like that. i logged out and my name is stuck in the login field!! that's issue number 1 for me.
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colcam
Aug. 30, 2006, 6:44 p.m.Some users, including myself hit a glitch-- with MAC 10.4.7 and the Netscape Browser you could not log into either Netscape email or AIM email, always getting an unavailable, try again soon error message. You can log in using Safari, and you can open both browsers and confirm the failure by trying them at the same time. It does not seem to affect ALL Macintosh users, but a fair number, and only using the Netscape browser.
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apres-ski
Aug. 30, 2006, 7:02 p.m.I wasn't happy when I went to AOL to read my Netscape mail. I went back & found this important information while transferring to Seamonkey. Seamonkey is exactly like Netscape. And when you configure the ports with the right numbers, it gets your mail ASAP!! Gotta go now to read over 600 pieces I got today because I finally got the correct SMTP port number, 587!!
Later dude & dudettes!!
Incoming mail
IMAP server = imap.aol.com or imap.aim.com
Use SSL = No
Port = 143
Outgoing mail
SMTP server = smtp.aol.com or smtp.aim.com
Use Authentication = Yes
Port = 587
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Jeri
Aug. 30, 2006, 7:04 p.m.Not only can't I copy and paste, I can't forward any mail that includes images of any kind. Thanks a lot for nothing.
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kfolive
Aug. 30, 2006, 8:34 p.m.A little customer survey would have been nice prior to making a major system change. It's a shame the customer is almost a forgotten interest in many major businesses today.
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ekklesiawarrior
Aug. 30, 2006, 8:54 p.m.Was all about the money. After all this was free, so long as we put up with the adverts.
We werea beta tedster for Netscape 1.1 !
Thus been here a long time. The earlier namer was lost in the scuffle, reappears without the mail.
Interesting enough the Instant Messenger managed to survive.
Was never our prime address.
The competiton is stiff pout there.
It is NOT a pretty world.
They had to survicem, and AOL was more cost effective.
Times change. Was all about the money. After all this was free, so long as we put up with the adverts.
We werea beta tedster for Netscape 1.1 !
Thus been here a long time. The earlier namer was lost in the scuffle, reappears without the mail.
Interesting enough the Instant Messenger managed to survive.
Was never our prime address.
The competiton is stiff pout there.
It is NOT a pretty world.
They had to survicem, and AOL was more cost effective.
Times change.
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ChristianZ
Aug. 30, 2006, 9:35 p.m."1. Netscape Mail had very few ads, AIM Mail has A LOT of ads"
That's the way AOL likes it.
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Dygital
Aug. 30, 2006, 9:35 p.m.I can understand that many of you wanted to keep your older, classic Netscape Mail; however look at the bottom line - better features. A better supported product. I suggest that you can list the features that don't work and let the developers know on Tae's blog. * He is listening * Give back the respect of having him listen, by offering constructive criticisms and offering.
No massive merger goes off without problems, and I'm sure Netscape/AOL ask for your patience and forgiveness in it but they are committed to getting it resolved.
You are NOT forced to use the AOL.COM Web mail. You can use Outlook, preferably Mozilla Thunderbird (http://ww...">http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird)">(http://ww... and configure it to read your NS/AOL Mail. Takes all of 3 minutes of setup and then you can do all you want with the mail.
A couple helpful resources:
* http://about.aol.com/faq/openmailaccess
* http://about.aol.com/faq/netscapemail
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camino305ss
Aug. 30, 2006, 9:44 p.m.Put me down as another dissatisfied customer. Why they had to monkey with something that was easy to load, navigate and read, is beyond me. If this is progress, they can keep it! After 7 yrs. I'll be moving my email account too.
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andrewk9
Aug. 30, 2006, 10:21 p.m.James & Tae, Thanks for the explanation - it means a lot. I too have been using netscape.net email for 7-10 or so years(I forget how long it's been available)...glad to hear email won't disappear after 27 days...I'm on board for ten more years. I don't think there are any more or any less ads on aim mail than netscape.net mail had, spam control is EXCELLENT vs. Yahoo, navigation has not changed noticeably. I was able to forward images today. Looks A ok to me.
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Kovu
Aug. 30, 2006, 10:23 p.m.How about: I don't want to be @aim.com, I want to be @netscape.com. I like the Netscape name. AOL seems to be doing everything possible to ****** off the Netscape faithful.
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crystalmachine
Aug. 30, 2006, 11:22 p.m.I am disabled and have information on my mail page that iI cant acess , we had no advance warning and I am not one of those advanced computer people and I need help please. I am totaly locked out of my saved info and it is a matter of importance to acess it SOMEONE PLEASE HELP.
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MommysTheBoss
Aug. 30, 2006, 11:26 p.m.I don't use netscape as a mailbox, but I did use netscape as a home page. My gut instinct as a marketing professional tells me that netscape will be shutting it's doors soon and will merge with AOL. This type of sudden change in format, moving email, etc. is a marketing disaster. Kudos to you Netscape. If you want people to stop using your services, you're well on your way. I, for one, however - will not switch my homepage to AOL . . . MSN perhaps - they've still got real news.
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redwriter
Aug. 30, 2006, 11:40 p.m.Personaly I still use netscape 7.2 and have not gone past it because of all the controlls that AOL put on it and have moved to firefox long ago.
I never use microsoft crapnet, but seems how AOL needs to follow instead of lead, they are going down the towlet also.
That leeves us with the leader firefox, and I will build to them, and not to control junkies.
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redwriter
Aug. 30, 2006, 11:42 p.m.Netscape its been a good 8 years but I'll see you around when you stop controlling everything.
Suggestion have some balls and fire this moron.
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