AOL slims to grow

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The mistake was not IE

It was actually AOL's adoption of IE way back in the late 90s that helped fuel its growth. The AOL webbrowser prior to that was pathetic.

The mistake was and is maintaining the proprietary client environment instead of going to a pure web-based model like MSN and Yahoo.

First, it costs a fortune to develop, maintain, and distribute. It also diverts resources from the AOL web initiatives.

Second, it uses a proprietary markup language, forcing advertisers to develop online campains twice, once in HTML and one in the AOL language. The success of the world wide web is due to commonly adhered to standards and AOL chose to ignore that.

Third, the client is a bloated mess. Downloading it on dialup lines is now nearly impossible. Also, it often proves disruptive to the PCs and Macs running it. Much of the success of MSN Preferred is due to the fact it can be easily offered by broadband ISP providers because it doesn't require any special software.

Posted by: joshdcohen@...   Posted on: 12/06/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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