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AOL pretends to be the internet

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Re: AOL pretends to be the internet

#181

Post by blamazon »

lbotos wrote: post #159
AlecSchueler wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? I've been in the tech world for over a decade but think I've personally scanned only a single QR code in the wild. For people outside our bubble they basically don't exist, though I'll admit this is probably quite location dependant.

I’m sitting here eating a chicken katsu curry in London and each seat at the bar has a QR code to scan and see the menu. For the past 3 years a lot of restaurants switched to QR based menus for obvious reasons. So I’d wager to say that anyone that went out to eat in the last 3 years has interacted with at least a handful of QR scans :) I’ve also seen hotels adopt “scan this code to get our WI-FI details”. Which is a…

For 3 years, when confronted with such a scenario, the people in my life who dislike QR codes have theatrically said something like "what are these stupid computer squares! I want a paper menu damn it!" Whereupon the staff and I share a knowing look, everyone rolls their eyes, and a paper menu is brought forth.

Re: AOL pretends to be the internet

#182

Post by ndespres »

firesteelrain wrote: post #131
doublerabbit wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> AOL keyword ! And we've gone full circle. We have the same today, just in a form of a #tag.

AOL keywords were shortcuts to URLs like bit.ly right?

Not all the time. Many keywords were a shortcut into a curated multimedia portal inside AOL. It could be equivalent to a web site for a brand, but could also be a more general area inside AOL with related articles, chat rooms, etc on that topic. More like opening a magazine than running a web search or typing a URL.

Re: AOL pretends to be the internet

#183

Post by washadjeffmad »

giantrobot wrote: post #134
hulitu wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's important to remember that AOL could have been they internet if the succeeded. Well, we now have 4 AOLs: Google, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook.

Why is Apple included in that list? What service do they have that pretends to be "the Internet"?

Don't focus too much on the word "internet" - it didn't mean to people what it does today.

Imagine if AOL had existed in an "always online" world and built an OS instead of an application. In fact, just imagine a computer that booted directly into AOL, where you could download and manage apps but never delete the "AOL" part.

Isn't Apple's iOS just an abstraction of the environment AOL sought to build - a portal they controlled in between customers and companies to allow and manage exclusive services, media, and (DRM'd) purchases?

Re: AOL pretends to be the internet

#184

Post by dlkmp »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #161
flangola7 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those numbers have to be very low now that we are post 2020.

I am an it professional. I've used qr codes maybe... 6 times, ever? With probably 50% success rate before I give up. I know for a fact that literally nobody else in my in law family of middle class Canadians has ever used a single one. Anecdata of course, but if we're sharing assumptions... :-)

That sounds almost impossible to me. I feel like half of everything I purchase which has a manual doesn't ship with a physical manual, but instead comes with a printed QR code to "get instructions". If it's a gadget that comes with an App, there will be a QR code linking to that app. I know multiple bars/ restaurants which won't send waiters to your table but expect you to scan the QR code on the table and order with your phone.

Re: AOL pretends to be the internet

#185

Post by bdw5204 »

basch wrote: post #178
NikolaNovak wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am an it professional. I've used qr codes maybe... 6 times, ever? With probably 50% success rate before I give up. I know for a fact that literally nobody else in my in law family of middle class Canadians has ever used a single one. Anecdata of course, but if we're sharing assumptions... :-)

If you were out at all during / after Covid, restaurant menus were all QR codes on tables around me. They are on posters all over. Commonly used for sign-ups and event entrance. It’s a mid assumption to think they are more popular in tech circles, I actually think the reverse is true.

There's a reason why restaurants quickly returned to physical menus: most of their customers hated QR code menus and the restaurant business is extremely competitive so you have to be responsive to what customers want to stay in business.

It's only in markets that lack competition that a company can do unpopular changes that reduce its costs without losing customers. For example, stadiums all went cashless "for your safety" and then never brought cash back. Which they can do for the same reason they can charge $5 or more for a bottle of water: they're basically a monopoly with a large captive audience.

Re: AOL pretends to be the internet

#186

Post by vxNsr »

lostlogin wrote: post #121
TreeInBuxton wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do people still type "www."? From my experience, yes. I am getting merried next month - we have a wedding website via "with joy", which had a URL a bit too long to fit on our wedding invites, so I set up a redirect of "wedding.surname.tld" - the amount of people who messaged us saying the website didn't work, and it turns out they were putting "www." beforehand was staggering (until I added that as a redirect too).

If you are ever in a tech support role and have to see how people use computers, it’s actually horrific.

I have an email that is firstname@lastname.tld when I tell it to people, or tech support they always first assume I’m an idiot and really meant to say firstlast@gmail.com

The tld isn’t com there’s no g in the entire address, but people have a hard time understanding that such a thing is a real email address. I do happen to have that gmail address also, but my name is uncommon and not the easiest to spell, so as long as they get my last name and tld right I’ll get the email if they send it to my vanity domain.

Re: AOL pretends to be the internet

#187

Post by sixstringtheory »

rhplus wrote: post #149
giantrobot wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is Apple included in that list? What service do they have that pretends to be "the Internet"?

iOS App Store. Plenty of iPhone users never knowingly open a browser or search engine. The internet is apps to them. Other wall-garden networks offered by Apple include: AirDrop, Find My, iMessage

This is my grandmother, I just wanted to add some confirmation to balance out the current downvotes. I’m an Apple fanboy and developer but I’m not in denial that Apple loves their sandbox just as much as the next corporation. Throw iCloud drive, email (doubly so now with hidden email forwarding), Apple pay, TV and Music in the mix too.

Re: AOL pretends to be the internet

#188

Post by SteveGerencser »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #161
flangola7 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those numbers have to be very low now that we are post 2020.

I am an it professional. I've used qr codes maybe... 6 times, ever? With probably 50% success rate before I give up. I know for a fact that literally nobody else in my in law family of middle class Canadians has ever used a single one. Anecdata of course, but if we're sharing assumptions... :-)

I'm the same. I've been in IT in one form or another 30+ years and have actually scanned a QR code maybe as many times as you have, probably less. I watched my usually brilliant wife spend 10 minutes trying to figure out how to scan a QR code with her Android before she gave up and just typed in the URL.

The number 1 reason I don't bother is that, in my experience, they rarely work.

Re: AOL pretends to be the internet

#189

Post by Ylpertnodi »

SnowProblem wrote: post #35

AOL lumbered on but what finally killed it was broadband and cable. They just didn't have the pipes and the luster was gone by then anyway. DSL gave it some life support but by 2002 or so everyone I knew had switched to cable. AIM use continued for few more years after that until texting killed that too.

>what finally killed it was broadband and cable.

And information. I remember telling so many people that aol was not 'the internet'. Most swapped over to a local isp...with vaguely similar cost but very, very open. Of course, then they all went and jumped on facebook.

Re: AOL pretends to be the internet

#190

Post by Angostura »

TreeInBuxton wrote: post #118
grose wrote: post #104

Remember AOL keywords? They basically had their own private DNS alternative. Every commercial on TV for a website would say "AOL keyword !" instead of the actual URL. I guess it was a lot less scary for your average internet user to type in "nick" instead of " http://www.nick.com ". I feel like we still kind of have the "URLs are hard" problem. I've noticed a lot of ads in Japan tell the users to search (presumably G…

> Do people still type "www."? From my experience, yes. I am getting merried next month - we have a wedding website via "with joy", which had a URL a bit too long to fit on our wedding invites, so I set up a redirect of "wedding.surname.tld" - the amount of people who messaged us saying the website didn't work, and it turns out they were putting "www." beforehand was staggering (until I added that as a redirect too).

having www. is a nice quixk way of saying "this is a website address" without having to say it.
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