A reply to fv

  In a recent e-mail, a friend ... internet acquaintance? ... friend, Francois Vincent, said:

PS: I'd post to your blog but I can't.

PPS: really, why are you using AOL?? didn't you do any research
beforehand? ;)

Well, there is a story there.

Wait, you say. Why are you replying to a private e-mail in your journal?

Well, if you remember my entry on writing and ideas, you will know. I gotta take the inspiration wherever I find it.

  So. It was about five or six years ago when my wife and I decided to join the information superhighway. OK, so it was more like my wife let me get the Internet at home. I had virtually no experience online, and didn't know what service to get, and AOL always had those CDs floating around offering a bajillion hours free, so the choice seemed easy. And it was easy. That's one thing that's always true about AOL: it's easy to use. Pop the CD into the computer, and follow the on screen instructions, and bingo; you are online.
  There are many Internet service providers out there, many of them substantially less expensive than AOL, and most of them offer a free one month trial, so I decided to cancel the AOL after a month and try a few others to see how they were. Anyone who has ever tried to cancel AOL before will be smiling right now. What's that, sir? You want to cancel? Well, why don't we give you another free month? In fact, make it two months. If you try, it's possible to milk them for as much as six months of free service. I've heard people boasting of longer terms than that.
  Finally, after I had exhausted AOL's generosity, they let me quit and try out other services. You know, for someone who is only just barely computer literate, going from AOL to almost anything else is a pretty big shock to the system. What do you mean I have to configure my e-mail client? Not only do I not know how to do that, I don't have a clue what the hell that even means. The other thing about the World Wide Web, for someone who cut their teeth on AOL, is that it is a sea of information, with little or no organisation. Learning how to find the kinds of things you are looking for can be a frustrating endeavour. That's another thing AOL does well. They have a lot of content, already well organised for you. And it is reliable content, unlike what you might find casting randomly about the web.
  As all this was going on, another problem developed. I was spending a lot of time online, and my wife kept getting told by people that they were trying to call us, and could never get through. Bell Canada to the rescue! Bell offered us a new service they had developed called Internet Call Display. Whenever a computer user was online, and a telephone call came in, this service would alert you with an on screen message, and allow you to sign off the Internet and take the call. I'm not exactly sure, but I think Bell Canada saved my marriage.
  After several months of alternative ISP service, my wife asked me to go back to AOL. She liked the organised content they provided. She knew how to send and receive e-mail with AOL. No problem. I cancelled whatever service we had been using, and came back to AOL. Problem. The Bell Internet Call Display service did not work very well. According to a technician I spoke to, the AOL software has a way of masking your IP address, and that was causing ICD to have fits. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. We muddled along with it for quite some time, until one day Bell Canada called to offer us a special discounted rate on their Sympatico High Speed service. With DSL service only slightly more expensive than what we were currently paying for AOL dial-up, and the promise of eliminating our telephone problems, we once again bid adieu to AOL. (Actually, I just reduced AOL to a $6.95 a month basic maintenance package until I was sure I wanted to cancel).
  I never cancelled. My wife and son started complaining about the way the new service worked. Sending and receiving e-mail was more complicated. Again, my wife missed the AOL content. As well, my son was getting older, and becoming more adept at computer use. AOL's parental controls were very attractive. I investigated AOL Broadband service, but it wasn't available in my area, so I put them off. And I put them off, until one day I received an e-mail from AOL informing me that AOL-DSL had recently become available in my town. So here I am.
  There are still some things I do not like about AOL. I don't like that non-AOL users cannot leave comments in my journal. (So I put in an e-mail link). I don't like AOL's newsgroup interface. (So I'm not using newsgroups anywhere near as much as I used to anyway). I don't like AOL's built-in web browser. (So I minimise it and use IE).
  There are some things I do like about AOL. I like the e-mail client. I like the parental controls. I like how my wife has stopped bugging me to check her e-mail for her. Why, they have even started to crack down on spam. Will wonders never cease?