RSSAIM Update Adds Bundled AOL Browser
By David Worthington | Published May 4, 2005, 7:56 AM
Before it migrates to the next generation of AOL Instant Messenger, AOL has said that it will issue a minor update to AIM 5.9. But BetaNews has learned that the software will be much more than a maintenance release, bundling a full installation of the AOL Browser along with AOL's SpyZapper anti-spyware tool.
The new AIM, currently in the beta phase of development, refines the AIM Today page with browsing and security enhancements, and updates the AIM Tools panel while removing all existing third party add-ons.
AIM Today -- a pop-up window that loads when AIM starts -- is the centerpiece of AOL's open audience strategy, offering AIM users access to news, entertainment and other exclusive rich media content from AOL. As part of these efforts, AOL is requiring the installation of AOL Explorer, formerly known as AOL Browser, in place of the previous AIM Today window.
Based on Internet Explorer, AOL Explorer does not automatically replace the user's default browser, but can be invoked independently through the Start Menu and adopted as the primary Web browsing application. Users are not given a choice to opt out of an installation while installing AIM.
AOL Explorer has many features in common with today's alternative browsers, but includes some homegrown innovations, such as "tear-off tabs." Tear-off tabs are browser tabs that can be rearranged and pulled away from their original window and spun off into a new window. In addition to tabbed browsing capabilities, AOL has added thumbnail preview images of Web pages that pop-up when the mouse cursor hovers over a tab or the Back and Forward buttons.
AOL's desktop search utility, licensed from Copernic, is integrated into the browser as well; however, it must be downloaded separately. Promoting AOL Search, the browser has shortcuts to AOL's recently re-launched search portal site.
AOL's SpyZapper anti-spyware security software is also turned on by default in the beta release. After AIM is invoked, two instances of AOLHostService.exe will run to load AOL Explorer and some other peripherals, increasing AIM's footprint on system resources.
simple way to fix this problem. use Miranda or Gaim or Trillan im's. use these software and you hook up to AOL's,Msn's, or even Yahoo's servers.the software is not installed on your system.
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|{Sigh} Another desperate attempt to obtain more customers using brute methods. Opt out? No! You cannot opt out! We're gonna shove our crappy software down your throat whether you like it or not! Fear us! We are the almighty AOL!
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|Lol...Minor update.
hate to see what a major one would be...
maybe your whole OS would be aolified :-)
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|Unbelievable. Or actually, better yet, this is very believable for AIM. AOL has always been the pushy type. Same with Quicktime and all the others. The fella before me said it best when he spoke of the 1% of the 1% that fiends for these things. The "blind users" as we call them. They click, click, install (sometimes unknowingly), and then call us to fix their shat. HA! AOL is making millions for the tech industry. I'll take my share. "Ma'am, that'll be 75 dollars for the call. Your computer runs great now. See ya next week, you indiscriminate clicking towny."
Joke, but almost not. :)
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|Seriously. I wish we could get back to having software just include itself. When I install a piece of software I don't want it to ask me if I also want to install these 5 other things. I don't want it to install these things without asking either. If I wanted a browser or a pop-up stopper I would have downloaded them. All I want is a chat program. When will people learn?
I guess it's turned into a money thing. How much crap can we cram onto a person's computer that they didn't ask for?
AOL is a joke. I'll stick to Trillian for now (all though it's getting bloated too).
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|hmm, there is finally something we both agree on! and give GAIM a try... Open Source, no spyware/adware/malware, works on Linux too :-)
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|I still use Trillian 2.0 and Gaim, not only do I get rid of the spyware/adware, but I can combine multiple service access in 1 system. (and yes I am a paying Trillian customer, and no I don't use the new version because it's too bloated)
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|Enough of this Trillian 3.0 "bloated" crap. How is it bloated? People wanted features for a long time such as audio and video and now they got them. Stop being rediculous. Give it a try, it's actually quite nicer than Trillian 2.0. They used the same coding methodology and just created everything as an extension, even the mediums are plug-ins (like miranda handles it). So please quit it with the "bloated" non-sense.
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|"tear-off tabs?"
::cough::Opera::cough::
Anyway, i still run AIM 4.8 because the 5.x releases are bloated and full of useless addons, and now itll have a web browser? Jeez looks like im sticking to 4.8 forever
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|what really scares me is that there are a few people out there who actually think this stuff is wonderful. I know i have experienced it first hand when i installed the AIM client for someone, along with a program to remove the ads and then disabled the today window from popping up, and their response was "EWW". So what did they do? After i left, they went right ahead and installed the full bloated version along with all the bundled adware options clicked happily. It's kind of like, the reason there is junkmail is because 1% of 1% of people actually try the dumb offers. Same idea, the rest of us suffer for it.
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|All I have to say is that this is really funny! I hate AOL, but love the customers that call me to fix their machines.
All AOL shoud concentrate on now is their own OS, and that way they cannot blame incompatibility issues on MS. How much more RAM is this going to suck from your machine? As with 98SE users, the standard reply from AOL, was you needed more RAM. Machines being purchased today, by the public, is already at minimum. The norm of 256mb is super low now with SP2 and even slow with 512mb. New machine purchases have now seemed to trend the 512mb minimum, but for all the current 2001 - 2004 computers - I am going to be raking in the dough. I love them for that alone, but would never install AOL on any machine I own.
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|im thankful there are aim hacks out there for this type of garbage. What a load of fecal matter the AIM becomes with time.
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|Great name!
I agree totally. I wonder how this new mix is going to sit with a lot of my customers? Not given the opportunity to select which programs you want installed and run on your computer should be a violation, and called destruction of personal property.
I tried downloading Macromedia player the other day and it came bundled with the Yahoo toolbar. I was not given the opportunity to unselect it. For that, I refused to download and install it. I also read in an article right here on BetaNews that Macromedia and Sun were developing updates to their current platforms to support the delivery of Adware.
It is only going to get worse.
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|I think you should look again on the Flash Player. I just installed it last night, and there was, on the page you click to download it in IE, a checkbox that said Install Yahoo! Toolbar (which was already checked). Maybe if you read it then you would have gotten no toolbar, like I did.
They do try to trick you to install things you don't want, but most of the time there was an option that lets you opt-out, but it is sometimes not ovious (but it was ovious on the Macromedia page, it even had a Yahoo! image). READ CAREFULLY before you cllick things.
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|There was nothing like that there the day that I tried about a month ago. They may have changed it since, as you have notice now.
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|..makes me want to go back to Staff AIM.
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