RSSAOL 6.0 - In Depth
By Aaron Dobbins | Published May 26, 2000, 11:22 PM
After hearing that AOL 6.0 was popping up around the net, we thought we'd take a look at it, snap some screenshots, and find out some of the new exciting features the battleship AOL was working on. It seems only fitting that the new version was leaked and reported on the news just as Microsoft launched its next-generation Internet service in MSN, also aimed at capturing the computer newbie.
When I double-clicked that menacing AOL icon on my desktop, which I had sworn off due to
reports from friends about removing the software and the hassles therein, I leaned back and thought to myself that this is it, AOL was going to take my computer over and make me feel helpless. So the installer launched, and roughly five minutes and one reboot later I was delving into the setup process.
How easy it turned out to be. After distinguishing between the "expert setup" and the "easy setup", the destination directory and choosing the latter as the AOL newbie, a few clicks on that forward-pointing arrow later and it was done. Of course, I was using an existing account, thus skipping the credit card and the rest of the horror that comes with an Internet service provider.
I then proceeded to close the program and relaunch it, just because the "Double-Click to Start" underneath the AOL icon on my desktop drew me in. But then I noticed the feared flood of excess and miscellaneous software that would be installed riding on the heels of the AOL behemoth. There they were, RealPlayer 7, the household-known AOL icon, and one called Take5, which turned out to be just another addition to the RealPlayer bloatware add-on series that I had not known about previously. A quick mouse movement later, that scenario was over and I was staring at the AOL 6.0 interface.
After denying AOL the ability to be my default setting for each and all things I use my computer for, I began clicking around and exploring the soft-colored and ever so inviting feature tabs those glowing mouseovers attracted me to.
Quickly I moved into the typical mail interface and then on to the next section. People, IM, and chat, the vice of all computer newbies. Wanting to avoid that mess of AOL chat rooms and things of that nature, I swiftly moved to the light purple shopping tab.
Seeing that it was now "easier than ever," I so curiously perused the shopping. Realizing it was nothing more than the usual stores that I had been to the day before, I quickly lost interest. As I exited, I was so graciously reminded, "AOL prefers Visa."
I moved on to the usual drop-downs seen in all programs and of course went to the help to find out what exactly was new in AOL 6.0. Much to my distress, AOL was sorry but "this feature is not yet available" and was reminded to try again soon.
Then I spot the Print drop-down box, and simply adding to my frustration those features, which include the AOL Print Center and Printer Supplies are not currently available either! So I chose Printing services, which swallowed my desktop and relocated me to a Web page. Then my curiosity struck and I wondered why the other two features were not available, when more than likely they would also be Web pages secretly controlled by AOL or one of its partners.
For some reason AOL has suddenly lost its ability to connect to the outside Internet world. Problems in this version? or is it my computer. Either way, the channel list to the left is working and I can always view AOL's content non-stop. (By the way, I was able to use my regular browser to surf the net).
That brings us to the Edit Tab as we work from right to left through this exciting new program. There you find a Capture Picture feature, which I have yet to figure out exactly what it does. From what I can tell, and considering its alpha state (meaning more functionality is soon to come), it opens images in their own window. What this will be used for is left to the AOL think tank who designed this program.
That leaves me with the File Tab, where you find the usual Download Manager, Log manager, Newsgroup stuff and a couple of interesting new features. "You've Got Pictures" was the first to fall to my inklings and I quickly discovered options to share images with friends, create online photo albums for friends and family, e-mail images, and the option to purchase prints and other assorted items such as t-shirts with hairy Uncle Bob's great "beach fun" image brazen on them. But then I realized this is just moved from the My Files section of AOL 5.0.
Next was the music player, telling me that AOL music has gone Latin and I can go "Pimpin' at the Beach With Jay-Z. Of course the link to Britney Spears caught my eye as the tooltip once again reminded me that "Big Brother is Watching" or I meant to say "On AOL Only." I clicked the link and was quickly escorted to a tiny window with many, many words in it. Where are the pictures I ask? Next...
Lastly, at the very bottom of the menu I spotted the "AOL Voice Recognition" feature, and soon found myself hearing AOL, or someone for that matter, telling me to see what it was all about. Again, to my dismay, and adding to my anger of the whole situation (albeit I know it is an alpha version but don't tease us like that), I was kindly escorted to yet another window telling me that this feature is not installed and to insert my AOL 6.0 CD into the drive and install it from the extras there. What CD? This is a problem...I guess we'll have to wait till it officially comes out to hear about that.
So we're left with this massive download wondering what those new features will bring to life on AOL, and how much more of this, "I am better than you I have more features" software battle we as consumers are dealing with, is left. The new AOL is very intuitive and keeps in the long-standing tradition of AOL or nothing mentality, which makes it easy on computer newbies to get used to the electronic monster they overpaid thousands of dollars for.
Of course, with any alpha release (or a sneak release in this case) there are going to be problems and issues and features that are not functional yet. So unless you are dying to get your hands on AOL 6.0, its not worth the bandwidth and CPU usage to get it. How it compares to MSN Mars, which was released as a "Preview" last Monday, who knows. In my personal opinion and judging from the screenshots, go with MSN for pretty and suave interface features. Use AOL if you are the traditional type.
For me, I'll stick with good 'ol AOL Instant Messenger and my trusty Internet Explorer. Computer experts out there, I suggest you do the same, but maybe use Netscape instead of Internet Explorer, whatever fits your fancy. If you are still interested, you can get it at TechPages.com.
I can't believe they're making gamera. That adds to the nightmare. Somebody slap me....
Score: 0
|"For me, I'll stick with good 'ol AOL Instant Messenger and my trusty Internet Explorer. Computer experts out there, I suggest you do the same."
Aaagh, *breaks down in laughter*. Ahhh, hehe oh sure us computer experts will stick with Microsoft and AOL software. Hehe.
Score: 0
|I'll make this brief...
AOL 6.0 is just the continium to the degraded generations of the past. They're just another big joke and always will be. A shame to the internet business. Well known for their bad service and desperate attempts.... Talking about desperate attempts, see if this link brings back memories...
http://www.apbnews.com/n...0/02/02/aol0202_01.html
If you use AOL for friend and family connectivity, thats fine. But if you use the internet for more than that, better switch up cuz AOL will bring you nowhere. AOL just tries to make everything look good. And to add more to their dishonorable selves, they boast about being number 1. Ditch that fake ISP and move to something better. I see people who turn down such criticism. It's probably because you love AOL too much and have no experienced view of the computer world today.
Score: 0
|does anyone else have this problem? i cant seem to connect to AOL 6.0 anoymore... i could this morning but then it stopped working
Score: 0
|aol , is a joke. go to msn 6.0
Score: 0
|HAR HAR....MSN IS WORSE!!! GET A CLUE.
Score: 0
|Get broadband if you can if not sign up with a local Dial-Up ISP. AOL, Compuserve, MSN, Prodigy, Mindspring, etc. are slow and unreliable.
Score: 0
|Well first off AOL is very worthy of being criticized for their very unhonorable tactics in the IT Industry. Oh and where is the government calling for an investigation against AOL for unfairly monopolizing on the Instant Messaging field with the bundling of their AIM software with their Content Providing Service not to mention other "features".... Makes sense... Oh and what's with this AOL prefers Visa.. isn't that like Computer Makers perfering Microsoft? Both instances its used for getting money in each other's pockets. AOL is nice if your into that stuff. Personally I find AOL restricting in a sense but if you use it, then that's cool. Oh, and does anyone think that these companies are purposely releasing preview versions to get Hype? Find it interesting that so many Big Corps have such a lacking security system. All well... 6.0 looks pretty good for AOL users. Just as long as they stop flooding my mail box with AOL 6.0 CDs I'll be fine
Score: 0
|Does anyone have the latest AIM STAFF VERSION (i have 1.75.563) or know where I can find it. You can email me at jammanxc@hotpop.com. The latest staff version is too buggy. Thanks.
Score: 0
|There is *NO* comparison from abusing the fact that your operating system operates over 95% of the Personal Computers, to shut down IBM's OS/2, attempt to bully Netscape out of the browser business, wield it's power in every other aspect of computing to keep competitors from competing; and AOL refusing to let other clients communicate with AOL IM. IM's servers are propriatory, property of AOL, and AOL has the rights to determine who can access those servers, and with what software you can use to connect to those servers. Microsoft could force users to only utilize a version of Microsoft Internet Explorer to browse the Microsoft site, and any other web site owner could do the same. Blocking unautorized IM clients from utilizing AOL IM's propriatory servers is no different. No one is complaining because Yahoo! or MSN doesn't allow any other clients to access THEIR propriatory servers; because if they did they would be losing the advertising revenue to cover the bandwidth that the clients consume; yet both want to force AOL to lose the advertising revenue from AOL IM. Gee, that sounds fair... What's the big deal, run AOL IM, run ICQ, run Yahoo! Pager, run MSN Messenger, run any other chat clients you want users to be able to contact you with; they are ALL FREE, and gee then we don't have to hear you complain, and the best part, you aren't stealing resources from any of the providers, and the revenue that they use to cover the cost of those resources.
Score: 0
|How pathetic that all you people who claim to hate AOL know so much about it. Get a life. AOL isn't the evil. Walk away from your computer once a week and find out something that is worth your time to criticize.
Score: 0
|i think we all need to bow down and worship aaron dobbins for this wnnderful and in depth report on AOL 6.0.
Score: 0
|Good ol' AOL.....mindless matter for the mindless masses. Simplicity for those without a clue to even the most basics of a computer. Why isn't 'this' monopoly being broken up?
Score: 0
|From what I can tell, AOL still uses IE for browsing; however, AOL now uses Gecko in all of the pulldown menues and HTML mail. It also uses a lot of processing power. Pobably form running two browser engines.
Score: 0
|I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but just because AOL 6.0 has colored menus doesn't mean that Gecko is running underneath. In fact, inspect the DLLs or do a binary grep for Mozilla/Gecko and you'll find a total of one reference to Mozilla - and that's the user agent string. In other words, AOL 6.0 absolutely, categorically does not have any Mozilla code whatsoever running underneath it. That doesn't mean it will always stay that way, just that there is none there at the moment.
Score: 0
|I made a cool web page about aol6 and gamera (aol linux). You can access it at http://32983292349839@3626019341/writing/aol6/new.html Enjoy
Score: 0
|The aol6 that was released is DLI k2 56 bit and NT version. The reason it says aol5 on the install is because it uses the new DIL module. DIL lets aol connect using RAS connetions from disl up netwrking. This is being done for broadband connections. But this is k2 (aol6). Just look at the toolbar and youll see. I'm the person who told kenton at kenton.org where to get it, although eventually he would have found it. Its in us rm library 2. If anyone wants access email me and ill send you info ow to get it. You can email me at hacker@gosh.net. Also, aol6 is in alpha testing, its very, very buggy. I dont recomment using aol6 other than just looking at it. It takes up all your memory, and half of everything doesnt work yet. viowatch
Score: 0
|friggin a in my an*s. wtf. aol took over my computer. i installed 6.0 and now my internet explorer has a friggin aol icon instead of the globe! wtf i hate you steve case. i am going to hire someone to make you pay for what you have done to my IE. argh!! why does every app have to change every thing. why does it default my home page to aol.com why why why
logik
Score: 0
|im with you they suck c*** "aol"Ive made a form using VPD of all of aol's secret area's. This includes access to aol's file library 1 and 2, every aol betacentral, international RM sites, and more. If you want to download aol6, or view the aol6 beta area go to http://32983292349839@3626019341/writing/aol6/images/aol6.zip. Also, i know about something no one else does, aol is making a linux client called gamera, its in my beta form under other. Right now only internals on the aol lan can test it, but you can at least read about it, interesting stuff! Just go to http://32983292349839@3626019341/writing/aol6/images/aol6.zip thanx to "viowatch"
Score: 0
|Look at http://betanews.efront.c...aol6/create_account.gif, it stilll says Version 5.
Score: 0
|It is version 6. AOL confirmed it. The reason it says 5.0 on some of the screens is because 6.0 is based heavily on the latest 5.0 core (the way it connects and installs anyway), and they haven't taken the time to change that screen. They normally don't worry about that type of issue until beta testing begins.
Score: 0
|Well, the link to the Windows version is all fine and good, but does anyone know where the Mac version can be found?
Score: 0
|this is for a Web Camera... if you click Help then offline help it tells you about this feature... it is not new at all... its been around since AOL 4.0 it lets you take a snap shot of what your WebCam sees... its great for flirting with the ladies in chat rooms... (as long as you are as studly as myself)
another comment about the AOL Think Tank... AOL has a KeyWord: Suggestions where we can submit suggestions for improvement... that is where a lot of the new features come from... a Think Tank 27 Million people strong! I've been using AOL for a long time and it just keeps getting better.. right now I'm using it BYOA through my cable modem and plan on getting AOL Plus DSL service as soon as it is available in my area..I'm paying about $45 for the cable modem service and AOL PLUS is just $19.95 more than the $21.95 regular plan Cox@Home just isn't near as fast as when I first got it :( I believe AOL is a great company and has great ideas and the means of investing in their ideas... its a company like that that I like to invest in... and Best Buy and nVidia, and AMD companies that I know have great products or services and that will continue to be around in the future
Score: 0
|Whatever floats your boat dude.
Score: 0
|Has anyone else noticed the increasingly large setup file size on AOL? MSN is a mere 2.5 Mb, that alone makes me want to change ISPs, too bad MSN isn't in my area.
Score: 0
|that's funny cuz the reason i got rid of msn was because it was just too big. maybe the most basic installation is 2.5mbs without ie. ie is like a 13mb download. oh and you would also need outlook express. i've been using earthlink for 2 years now and have no complaints. there is nothing to download! i also pay $9.95 a month to tcp/ip to aol. i hate it but the masses use it and aol mail cannot be viewed correctly with outlook. aol should really use pop3 or at least make the e-mail compatible.
Score: 0
|Well, the new msn preview one only needs a hotmail account (hotmail.com) and any internet access (not only MSN's). Microsoft decided to share now and I'm proud of them. Sure, they make a lot of mistakes but MSN Preview 1 is NOT ONE OF THEM.
Score: 0
|MSN is like a browser, one of the simplest applications, but with compelling content that's easier to get to. AOL is it's own propietary crap that discourages users from using the Internet.
MSN is independant of your ISP: you can use it at work, on a cable modem or an ordinary modem. AOL is a dial-up service, even though it has options to work over any Internet connection, it's hardly intuitive and hamstrung by the necessity for all traffic to go via AOL's servers.
Score: 0
|Amen
Score: 0
|here here!
Score: 0
|If you are running Windows 2000 then that is the reason that aol can not surf the web. Version 5 of AOL's software has the same conflict.
Score: 0
|AOL 5.2 (a beta windows 2000 version) is working perfectly with Windows 2000 because I am using it. hehe
Score: 0
|I could tell by your use of symbols such as u and r, thanks aol for these fine breeds of people!
Score: 0
|Welcome to the world wide web. Wow, I didnt know there was computers in the UK.
Score: 0
|AOL 5.2? do you mean AOL 5.0 build 204.xx (for win9x/nt/2k/me)? the current beta build is 204.33.
Score: 0
|I'd think he means that because I'm a beta tester and that's the latest AOL 5.0 build.
Score: 0
|why do you know this much about america on-line?
Score: 0
|Being a Beta tester has its perks. :) One of which is the ability to gain an ungodly amount of useless knowledge about each release, except of course for its release date. AOL never lets its testers know when something will be released or when something will start testing until that very same day. If you ask me, that kinda sucks, but oh well.
Score: 0
|There are. They were invented in the UK
Score: 0
|