[NBLUG/talk] Linux for an AOL addict?

Dave Sisley dsisley at sonic.net
Wed Jul 20 06:48:29 PDT 2005


On Tue, Jul 19, 2005 at 10:27:25PM -0700, Lincoln Peters wrote:
> On Tue, 2005-07-19 at 10:48 -0700, Walter Hansen wrote:
> > Oh, I'm pretty gosh darn sure that there's a version of AOL's chat client
> > in the Linux world.
> 
> There is, but that's not enough to satisfy an AOL addict.  AOL offers a
> bunch of supposedly exclusive features that an AOL addict is convinced
> that he/she cannot live without.
> 
> My own experience as a former AOL user tells me that this belief is
> complete and utter bullsh*t.
> 
> ---
> Lincoln Peters
> <sampln at sbcglobal.net>

Lincoln, et al.:

I've been watching this thread with some interest and thought I'd
chime in with my experience, although I don't think it will satisfy
this friend of yours.

We ran a windows/AOL house for a few years until I discovered Linux,
and now we are running Linux only.  My wife does not like AOL per se,
but does not want to drop the email address she's been using for 10
years. 

Over time, we've moved from using the windows based AOL program to
using another ISP for browsing and just using AOL for that email
account.  As we moved over to using Linux exclusively, my wife would
use AOL's web based interface (aol.com) to check her mail.  We now use
Thunderbird to check the accounts.

While my wife does not use any of AOL's 'features' or 'exclusive
content' (bleh), my father-in-law does.  He uses the financial section
to monitor stocks in a portfolio. While we were on vacation, I was
able to log him in and access his portfolios via the web based
interface.

We just pay AOL $5/month for a limited amount of account time, which
we never use up because we just check email every so often.  Also, we
can use Thunderbird now to check AOL's IMAP email.  The only time we
are logged in is to check the email.

As I said, I don't know if there is a good Linux solution for your
friend, but I offer the above information just in case.  I would say
that they could switch to linux if they use another ISP for general
browsing, and aren't actually logging in to use AOL's 'exclusive
content' for more than a few hours a month.

[I just checked and they offer $15/month with 10 hours of usage (I
guess we've been grand-fathered, but we get less than 10
hrs/mo.). Maybe they can find a cheaper ISP?]

So it would cost your friend a little more per month to do it this way
and they'd lose their familiar gui.  I'm sure they will jump at the
chance! 

Good luck!

-dave.

-- 
Dave Sisley
dsisley at sonic.net
roth-sisley.net



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