Justin Frankel of Nullsoft Hacks AIM 168
Trinition writes "Justin Frankel from Nullsoft, the creators of WinAmp, as gone and hacked away at his new Parent Company's popular AIM service. He's remove the ads. Read the ZDNet article for details." Apparently AOL yanked it from the firehose page, but it's on Zeropaid.Update: 09/22 02:40 AM by H :Thanks to a couple people who pointed out that it is still on firehose.
NullSoft VS AOL... (Score:3)
I wonder if Frankel and other at nullsoft are trying to see how far AOL will allow them to go, or maybe they are just unhappy with their job at AOL. Most companies have you sign a non-disclosure agreement in regards to the software owned by the company. This would blatently infringe on this contract.
Perhaps Frankel is doing this to get back at AOL for buying his company out (even though it made him rich). To me this course of action doesn't seem logical. It would be like a microsoft employee putting out a free version of a windows like operating system which he based on the windows code.
And it works like a champ... (Score:1)
I think the whole concept is funny as hell, though. If he (or someone else) could write one that would show the name of the song being played, the time left, the artist, etc...that would be less annoying, and more useful.
--SpookComix
AOL deserves it (Score:1)
Re:What is the big deal with getting 1st post? (Score:1)
-David T. C.
Re:Removing the ads (Score:1)
If that.
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why should i have to have winamp? (Score:1)
-lx
The AOL window. (Score:1)
Re:What is the big deal with getting 1st post? (Score:2)
Re:What is the big deal with getting 1st post? (Score:1)
Re:His "free*" time? (Score:1)
Not at all. Any time spent not at the office doing anything not explicitly asked of you by your employer is your "free time". This is a pretty easy definition.
In this particular, the "not asked of him by his employer is pretty obvious", something tells me that AOL isn't going to ask him to write a clone of their software minus advertisements. So, the only thing left is, was it done at the "office".
I'll make the guess that justin is really working to piss off AOL and would want to protect his ass, so it likely was really done at home during non work hours.
** Martin
Holy wars (Score:1)
I wish all of ./ers who can program would give their time to things like Nullsoft, and not like /dev/null soft. While I would prefer to have a full open-sourced client, crippling the AOL one seems like a nice job to me. Congrats, Justin!
Re:Removing the ads (Mac version) (Score:1)
http://jove.prohosti ng.com/~ieskins/other/AIM/AIM4.1AdHack.sit [prohosting.com]
...works great. it's a little patching app, so you don't even need to fire up ResEdit.
- isaac =)
Re:Still there..... (Score:1)
-David T. C.
Re:His "free*" time? (Score:1)
I can't see what right my employer has on _my_ code, written in _my_ free time, with _my_ compilers that _I_ bought (well, downloaded GCC, anyway...)
I wonder how legal this actually is... OK, a contract is a contract, but "unfair contract" rules apply, over here in the UK, at least...
Strong data typing is for those with weak minds.
Incorrect URL, Still Available to Download (Score:1)
Re:What is the big deal with getting 1st post? (Score:1)
I was just answering his question
Re:Thorn (Score:3)
Maybe they could buy an ad on zeropaid
It's all true! ±5%
Trolls (Score:2)
Removing the ads (Score:5)
Here's how you disable AIM Advertisements:
Make sure AIM isn't running (not even the icon in the tray). Use notepad to open aim.odl. Scroll down to where there are two sections that have "advert" followed by "required". Remove the word required in both cases, and save the file. Now delete or rename your advert.ocm file (I renamed mine advert.bak). Now start AIM. When you sign on, no more annoying advertisements at the top of your buddy list.
--
One of two things for certain... (Score:1)
Re:NullSoft VS AOL... (Score:1)
Check out www.geoshell.com, a GPL'd project that's a shell replacement for exploder.
Yes, it's headed by a guy working for M$ (in his spare time, of course)
Re:AOL is not allowed to make money? (Score:1)
-David T. C.
Re:AOL is not allowed to make money? (Score:1)
Is using Tivo stealing? Is taping a show and fast-forwarding through the commercials stealing? Is changing the channel when a commercial comes on stealing? Is using junkbuster [junkbuster.com] stealing?
AOL created this protocol, along with the TiK TCL/Tk client, so people could create AIM clients for alternative OS's. NONE of these clients have ads. In fact, there is nothing in the protocol to grab/retrieve ads.
Precisely. AOL is welcome to develop a UNIX AIM client. If they put some useful features in it, I can put up with the ads. I think part of the reason AOL allows UNIX clients to get by without ads is the following:
1. UNIX users who use AIM are far, far, far outnumbers by Windows users.
2. It costs money to prevent UNIX AIM users from using a service that doesn't show ads. In all liklihood that costs outweigh the benefits (see number 1 for a reason why).
3. AOL probably doesn't want to alienate UNIX folks. Why? For one they probaby know that UNIX types will develop their own protocols, e.g. Jabber [jabber.org]. Secondly, AOL and Netscape are buddies. It's been said that Netscape depends heavily on Mozilla. Who develops Mozilla? Right Virginia, UNIX folks (ok, not exclusively, but you know...). Thirdly, AOL really doesn't want to get people pissed at them with the impending Time-Warner deal.
All of the above reasons boil down to one thing: it's in AOL's best interest to allow UNIX AIM development to continue.
Re:Thorn (Score:1)
Think about it... if someone gave you that much money, do you think that you'd give a damn about losing your job? I didnt think so.
tagline
Re:Removing the ads (Score:1)
Actually it's because it was a Kevin Smith film; it's been awhile since I've seen Indiana Jones.
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Re:Removing the ads (Mac version) (Score:1)
Go here:
http://www.ResExcellence.com/user_cursors.shtml
Do what it says.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Ummm. Yeah.. (Score:1)
I dont find ads to be exploitive. I find ads to be annoying and often dumb, but never to the level of exploitation.
Well, how about the tobacco companies deliberately targetting ads at teen-agers, to get the maximum mileage from them over their lifetime, even when they know the product's causing them harm?
Re:Its called sarcasm (Score:1)
Re:AOL is not allowed to make money? (Score:2)
Also, the alternative protocol was NOT made to make up for the fact that the UNIX clients won't have ads. It was made for ease of development, and it actually has a few extra features, like saving/loading your buddy list on the AOL servers, rater than on the local machines. It's not specifically crippled, it's simply a version or two behind because less time is spent working on it. I should have been clearer in my earlier post.
"Evil beware: I'm armed to the teeth and packing a hampster!"
A better project for Justin to work on... (Score:1)
AviFile is a library, currently at 0.5, which can play a stack of Windows-only file formats, including MS MPEG 4, WMA and WMV, Intel Indeo, DivX
The current best player for AviFile is SMPEG XMMS, avaliable from
ftp.xmms.org/xmms/plugins/smpeg-xmms/.
Re:Thorn (Score:1)
Begone ads! (Score:2)
Re:The Perot Gambit (Score:2)
He should have held out for more.
Thorn (Score:2)
Refrag
Re:Ads, shmads.... (Score:2)
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Thank God. (Score:5)
Still there..... (Score:5)
http://www.firehose.net/free/aimazing/ [firehose.net]
Re:Thank God. (Score:2)
this could go three ways.. (Score:3)
2. He could get promoted and told to "lay off" the special projects
3. He could get "talked to" and fold like a napkin.
Me, I'm guessing he gets promoted.
zdnet needs a spelling nazi (Score:1)
------------
a funny comment: 1 karma
an insightful comment: 1 karma
a good old-fashioned flame: priceless
Not at all what happened (Score:1)
Re:Removing the ads (Score:1)
Re:Economics 101: Loss Leaders (Score:1)
pathfinder.com == Time
Time == Time Warner
Time Warner == AOL Time Warner
okay, so I'm stretching things a bit (and I'm not sure if the merger is complete yet...
btw, this doesn't affect your argument one way or the other, I'm just making the observation.
Re:AOL is not allowed to make money? (Score:1)
Re:His "free*" time? (Score:3)
Simply put, time spent using non-company resources is your "free time." For instance, if you go home and use a PC that you own to do anything, you own that work (unless the company has a claim to it otherwise [i.e. copyright, it started as a work project, etc]).
Also, depending on the terms of your employment, there are "work hours" for which you get paid (even on salary). If you do non-work-related things outside of "work hours", that would be free time.
Although I bet that some employers would see it differently.
--
hrm... not to be paranoid, but... (Score:1)
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Not that big a deal (Score:1)
There will always be a way to remove the ads from AIM, people were doing it (better) before Frankel and they will keep doing it regardless of what happens to him, only reason this is a story is cause the person writing the program is owned by AOL, not because it's anything new.
Re:AOL is not allowed to make money? (Score:1)
It's my Moral Duty to read ads? (Score:1)
I have no problem with them putting ads in the shows, but on the other hand they're not coming to strap me down and pry my eyes if I decide not to watch them either. And I think we'd be more then a little upset if the did.
What if people just moved the window up a little so the ads were off-screen? Would that also constitute theft?
This is why AOL bought Nullsoft! (Score:2)
So they buy Nullsoft, and get cool hacks like this. We love it, AOL loses nothing (those ads were worthless!), and AIM gets to bask in Winamp's reflected glory.
Reflected glory!!
Lion King Quote [off topic] (Score:1)
Your sig should read:
Rafiki: Aahh. Change is good.
Simba: Yeah, but it's not easy.
Just my few cents...or maybe more
~KONala ^..^
HOSE not HOUSE. (Score:2)
He's getting about a hundred hits a minute off that bogus link. Luckily, he's not a Microsoft guy, or you'd have crashed his system.
Re:Ummm. Yeah.. (Score:1)
A lot of the time, I think that ads don't have power over me. Then I get scared when I want a new pair of trainers and I don't like anything but the big-brand names. Ditto with soft-drinks: I will always buy the red one in preference to the one starting with "P" - even though I don't think they taste particularly different.
All I'm trying to say is that ads are weird - really weird. They've tinkered with my mind a little. That doesn't make me immediately scream "horrible global capitalism!", but it does make me just a little wary.
Of course, if you want real bug-eyed paranoia, read The Space Merchants and The Merchants' War by Pohl (& Kornbluth for the first). That's a recommendation BTW...
Re:The Perot Gambit (Score:3)
Perot sold EDS in 1984 to General Motors for $2.5 billion. He retained ownership in the company, which made him GM's largest individual stockholder and a member of the board of directors. From the start, Perot and GM head Roger Smith quarreled, and Perot criticized the quality of GM automobiles. In 1986, GM bought out Perot's stock for $700 million with the agreement that he could not compete with EDS for three years. Perot ignored the agreement. Two years later, he started a new computer service company, Perot Systems, which operates in the United States and Europe.
Re:Nullsoft rocks! (Score:2)
Intelligent: Pay these guys off and assign them something less damaging to their filthy aspirations of world domination
Unintelligent: "Hey! You can't do that, you're fired!" - thus they go beyond the control of their might evil masters and really rip them.
It's all true! ±5%
AOL is not allowed to make money? (Score:3)
How does stealing from AOL amount to someone being a 'programmer's hero'?
When is everyone going to get it through their head that most of the services on the internet eventually will not, and cannot continue to be free. You will either have to pay hard cash, or pay with your eyeballs.
-josh
some people have too much.... (Score:2)
This doesn't seem to make the product "Better" in anyway, just gets rid of the annoying ads that help pay for the AIM servers.
Now if he could only get rid of those annoying ads that pay for slashdot.
I'm truly underwhelmed.
Re:His "free*" time? (Score:2)
The point about these sorts of contracts is to avoid you looking at all the employer's "trade secrets" and figuring out something really whizz-bang using them, and then setting up in direct competition. Many contracts forbid you setting up in direct competition (or working at the direct competition) within 6-12 months of leaving, too.
But what you've got to remember about contracts is that (a) they're legally binding and (b) they are negotiable. Never forget (b) - it's your best friend.
Re:written in his spare time (Score:3)
Or his $86 million dollars...
Re:AOL Rocks! (Score:2)
Are you scared about the merger yet?
Fist Prost
"We're talking about a planet of helpdesks."
Re:easy way to remove ads from Windows AIM (Score:2)
  ; load_ocm ticker
now if I could only find a way to loose that search bar, I'd be happy
He's just trying to share mp3s... I just know it! (Score:2)
They say next that they'll distribute this AIM program via WuFTP and Netscape, two programs that also allow free trading of copyright music files over the Internet. Those pirating bastards!
I'm just trying to protect the artists!
The Other Nate
Just Novell Instantme (Score:2)
AOL IM mac ad removal (Score:2)
ResExcellence has the scoop [resexcellence.com].
Paul
It's still available on Nullsoft's page (Score:5)
http://www.nullsoft.com/free/aimazing/ [nullsoft.com]
Source code included! Apparently, AOL took it off of Firehouse, but forgot about Nullsoft's own website. Heh heh.
And, just in case they take it off of that website, you can still get it (a slightly older version) from BetaNews, right here:
http://fileforum.efront.com/d etail.php3?fid=968658671 [efront.com]
WSJ Article on AIMazing and Frankel (Score:4)
"As for AOL, it says it isn't troubled by the software because it doesn't affect outside advertisers. The Instant Messenger box has two advertising spots, and right now they are being used to promote AOL's service. "Since AIM does not have [paid] ads, this is a moot point," says Tricia Primrose, an AOL spokeswoman."
The article [msnbc.com] is available for free at MSNBC. Also, here's a screenshot [deviantart.com] from a link at Zeropaid.
==
www.sitesherpa.com [sitesherpa.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:AOL is not allowed to make money? (Score:5)
Obviously, you haven't been on Slashdot very long, so let me explain things to you.
Big corporations are evil because they are in the position of both controlling the government through financial leverage and the general population through employment and other more insidious dirty tricks such as advertising and control of the media and cultural brainwashing. Therefore, it is AOK to steal from big corporations. As King Missile once put it, "It's your duty as an oppressed worker to steal from your oppressor! Take stuff from work, and goof off on the company time!"
Conversely, smart people are always heroic. Compare the works of Alan Turing to the works of Jesus. Who is more heroic? Why, Alan Turing, of course, because Jesus couldn't come up with a Universal Turing Machine (the basis for modern computer science) without some kind of Divine Intervention, which is cheating. Turing was also gay, but that only annoys the trolls, and there are little pieces of the "Secret Gospel of Jesus" which imply strongly that Jesus may also have been gay.
Therefore, to use a favorite Slashdot analogy, various democracies around the world have been usurped by a giant multinational aristocracy, and only we (and Seattle anarchists) seem to understand this. Only Jedi Knights (l33t h4xx0rs) can bring this empire to its knees, with the aid of the force (l33t kernal h4xx0ring).
In conclusion, the l33t 0-day work done on AOL's IM client is a minor victory for the forces of good, since, through raw brainpower alone, a guy we claim as our own (although he'd kick us in the teeth if we claimed him to his face) has taken a tiny bit of money and power from Steve Case, and given it back to the poor (by which I mean college nerds with fast computers), Robin Hood style (Ayn Rand can fuck herself).
Re:The Perot Gambit (Score:2)
Cat herding: (http://www.adcritic.com/content/eds-cat-herders.
Re:This is hilarious from my standpoint (Score:5)
His "free*" time? (Score:3)
What is 'free' time when your on salary?
Netscape IM has no ads (Score:2)
The Perot Gambit (Score:4)
Didn't just remove the ads (Score:5)
but he does seem to be a 6 million dollar loose cannon. more proof to time warner that the truly gifted are beyond their control?
perhaps.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:His "free*" time? (Score:2)
The kicker is the "free time" part. Define "free time" when you're salaried. It was easy when I punched a clock. Now, it is really fuzzy...
remove_ads.c (Score:2)
/* begin remove_ads.c */
}#include <windows.h>
int main(){
Actually, it took longer to format the damn html than to write this. What the hell did slashdot do to the <pre> tag? err.
This is hardly new... (Score:2)
The oscilloscope is, admittedly, a new thing. But I could do that before with a WinAmp plugin (if I used WinAmp, anyway, which I don't).
But geez; first Gnutella and now this. Is this guy trying to make his bosses mad?
Incidentally, AIM has no paid ads; the only ads there advertise AOL's own stuff. So he hasn't damaged revenues at all, since the ads don't pay for anything AOL does.
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Re:AOL is not allowed to make money? (Score:5)
"Evil beware: I'm armed to the teeth and packing a hampster!"
Comment removed (Score:5)
Re:AOL is not allowed to make money? (Score:2)
So how is this for a compromise - if you are contemplating buying the AOL service, you should leave the ads on, so it can constantly tempt you.
If you're a hardcore zealot, like most of the people here, you were never going to buy AOL Access anyway, so you might as well turn the ads off. :)
-lb
Re: (Score:2)
Re:AOL is not allowed to make money? (Score:2)
"Evil beware: I'm armed to the teeth and packing a hampster!"
dont' u guys get it !!!!! (Score:2)
he replaced the AOL ad with a _winamp_ad_ !!
and it's promoting both winamp and AOL instead of just AOL..
so like everybody is still happy..
no wonder they let him do it..
Economics 101: Loss Leaders (Score:5)
I bring you a dictionary definition:
loss leader (lôs ldr) -- n. -- A commodity offered especially by a retail store at cost or below cost to attract customers.
AIM is, in a sense, a loss leader. They provide the service free of charge in order to get more people using the service. The ads may be only AOL ads, but they do get money when someone signs up.
AIM has another loss leaderish aspect. "Look how good this product is, and imagine how great the whole service must be!" Sure, that doesn't apply to the TiK using group (and other flavors), but it does to the geek's friends. (I'll refrain from posting the definition of "friend.") One doesn't lose the ability to "talk" with TiK using buddies when they sign up for AOL.
Oh, and my Win AIM client just put up an ad for th is page [pathfinder.com], which seems not to be an AOL site. But that has nothing to do with the idea of AIM being a loss leader.
Comment removed (Score:5)
what I find scary... (Score:2)
w/m
Better watch out, Justin Frankel (Score:3)
another program (Score:4)
win32aimad [gena01.com]
Re:AOL is not allowed to make money? (Score:2)
get to it here:
http://www.aol.com/aim/quickbuddy.html [aol.com]
Official AIM on Linux (Score:2)
Yahoo Messenger is also available on Linux as well - quite weird having these official versions coming out...
Wrong URL (Score:2)
It isn't Firehouse, it is FireHOSE.net [firehose.net]
The software can be found at Firehose.net/free [firehose.net]
-Davidu
Re:Better watch out, Justin Frankel (Score:2)
The DMCA is the DM-Copyright-A, if a copyright violation is not occuring or about to occur, it's likely the DMCA isn't involved.
Yes, the DMCA is a festering example of bribe money and buying corrupt judges, but that doesn't mean it's accurate here.
(Corrupt judges? Kaplan was bought and paid for.)
Re:It's still available on Nullsoft's page (Score:2)
http://www.firehose.net/free [firehose.net]
Enjoy.. There's lots more Cool stuff in there for Free!(and not as in beer)
Pontiac
Re:It's still available on Nullsoft's page (Score:2)
http://www.firehose.net/free/aimazing/
and i must say, it works very well
chris
Re:What is the big deal with getting 1st post? (Score:4)
written in his spare time (Score:2)
Plug-in not removed. (Score:3)