Ask Me Help Desk - Verizon takeover my AOL/PC

I am truly technically challenged. My PC took getting use to and I pay AOL
To keep the benefits of online help and their icons and their background

Photos and thank you, birthday, get well cards, etc. Will all that come to an
End? I don't have a smartphone so the wireless technology which they say
Is beneficial means nothing to me.

With the buyout of AOL by Verizon my guess is that the AOL desktop will stay pretty much the same - how you get your email ("You have mail"), saving web site favorites, etc will probably not change too much. Those who have stayed with the AOL desktop over all these years tend to be people who don't want to change very much, so it would be silly for them to make a lot of "improvements" that would complicate your life. I would expect some rebranding, of course, and tie-ins to mobile phones (syncing favorites and photos, for example), but if you don't have a smart phone you won't care about that.

Verizon is buying AOL more for its advertising business, not for the Internet Access client. However, I'm not as confident that Verizon will continue with that client. AOL has transform itself from an Internet Service Provider to a media content provider. That is its main business and the reason why Verizon wanted the purchase.

AOL was flying high as a ISP in the days of dialup. But AOL was not able to weather the switch from dialup to broadband. I'm not sure there was much they could do about it, but they just couldn't transform themselves to a viable client for broadband. Why should someone pay extra for the AOL Client when they can use broadband.

But, as I said, I am not sure that Verizon will care to keep the AOL client if it is losing money.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ebaines

With the buyout of AOL by Verizon my guess is that the AOL desktop will stay pretty much the same - how you get your email ("You have mail"), saving web site favorites, etc will probably not change too much. Those who have stayed with the AOL desktop over all these years tend to be people who don't want to change very much, so it would be silly for them to make a lot of "improvements" that would complicate your life. I would expect some rebranding, of course, and tie-ins to mobile phones (syncing favorites and photos, for example), but if you don't have a smart phone you won't care about that.

I hope you're right... you're certainly right in your description of those of us
Who don't want change very much. Thank you for getting back to me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottGem

Verizon is buying AOL more for its advertising business, not for the Internet Access client. However, I'm not as confident that Verizon will continue with that client. AOL has transform itself from an Internet Service Provider to a media content provider. That is its main business and the reason why Verizon wanted the purchase.

AOL was flying high as a ISP in the days of dialup. But AOL was not able to weather the switch from dialup to broadband. I'm not sure there was much they could do about it, but they just couldn't transform themselves to a viable client for broadband. Why should someone pay extra for the AOL Client when they can use broadband.

But, as I said, I am not sure that Verizon will care to keep the AOL client if it is losing money.

Thanks for getting back to me. I'm afraid most of what you said I was over my head... ISP... I know I had broadband... Ihave fios... but are you sayig Verizon may drop AOL clients? This scares me because I'm so use to this PC and the MAC I have (it was a gift) confuses me to no end.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottGem

I'm not sure there was much they could do about it, but they just couldn't transform themselves to a viable client for broadband. Why should someone pay extra for the AOL Client when they can use broadband.

Actually I suspect many (most?) users of AOL are on broadband, not dial up. My wife is a good example - she insists on running AOL for her email and does all her web browsing over it - the fact that it comes to our house over Comcast's cable broadband network is immaterial. And all that content that you referred to - things like Huffington Post - are right there on the desktop. And since the web browser portion is essentially Firefox I doubt there's much pressure to change. The only real question to me is whether maintaining the desktop features and support as opposed to becoming merely a web site portal with lots of content (a la Yahoo!) will be viable long term.

ISP is Internet Service Provider it is the company that provides your connection to the Internet. Jammy, for you that is Verizion FIOS.

EB, I agree that most of the people still using AOL are doing so over a broadband connection. My wife still uses her AOL.com e-mail address. But she accesses AOL.com using Chrome through our Optimum connection. I think Verizon will, eventually, drop a customized AOL client that is installed on the desktop in favor of just using AOL.com as a portal.

That customized client was great when everyone was doing dialup. It provided a relatively safe and secure way to get online. I was a Community Leader on AOL for several years. But the Web and browsers have made that client superfluous and unnecessary. I just can't see Verizon maintaining it if it is not generate profits.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ebaines

With the buyout of AOL by Verizon my guess is that the AOL desktop will stay pretty much the same - how you get your email ("You have mail"), saving web site favorites, etc will probably not change too much. Those who have stayed with the AOL desktop over all these years tend to be people who don't want to change very much, so it would be silly for them to make a lot of "improvements" that would complicate your life. I would expect some rebranding, of course, and tie-ins to mobile phones (syncing favorites and photos, for example), but if you don't have a smart phone you won't care about that.

I truly hope you're right. You certainly got my profile right! Senior here... don't like change