AOL Updates: Standalone Browser, Search, VoIP 125
Eric writes "In the face of increasing pressure from the likes of Google and MSN, America Online has opened beta testing for its standalone AOL Browser and Desktop Search to anyone with an AOL or AIM screen name. The AOL Browser beta utilizes Microsoft's Internet Explorer engine (not Firefox's, like Netscape) and integrates the company's Desktop Search client. Unlike Netscape it looks decent from the screenshots and also includes some nifty features like tear-off tabs and zooming." And prostoalex writes "In what could be the biggest VOIP push into US households, AOL will start offering VOIP services, as reported by Light Reading. 28% of online Americans subscribe to dial-up or broadband version of AOL, AOL has 4 million broadband users, and beta testers in the Light Reading article seemed to be pretty happy with the service."
the AOL service.... (Score:4, Informative)
And Vonage works with Time-Warner as well. So there aren't as many VoIP vendors as you assume there are.
More Info Regarding Its Features (Score:5, Informative)
Desktop Search: Now you can find files, photos, songs, pictures and other files on your computer's hard drive just as easily as you search the Web. And you don't even have to leave your Web browser to do it.
Tabbed Browsing: Keep tabs on your Internet experience! The new AOL Browser uses convenient tabs to help organize all your open browser windows, so you can quickly switch back and forth among multiple Web sites, easily finding--and getting to--the one you want.
Clear My Footprints: Whether you like it or not, your computer keeps track of everywhere you go online. But the new AOL Browser helps protect your privacy and stop snoops with just one click. Quickly and easily clear your Internet history, cookies, caches and more. You can even choose exactly which footprints you want to clear--making sure you erase what you want, when you want.
Thumbnail Previews: Now you can save time by viewing actual mini-previews of Web pages, instead of trying to decipher misleading URLs. Simply hold the mouse over any item in your history or favorites, or over any open browser tabs, and you'll be able to see where you're going--before you even get there.
shamless plug... (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Internet Explorer... because we don't own it .. (Score:5, Informative)
They bought it for the Netscape brand and the netscape.com portal to aquire more customers for their advertising business. The Netscape Browser wasn't on the top of their wishlist at all. Maybe Netscape allowed AOL to hedge their bets in the grand MSN vs AOL battle, and they probably used the browser while negotiating with Microsoft. But really, in 1998, Netscape 4.x was really starting to suck in comparison to IE.
Here was Steve Case's case for the purchase. Notice how he doesn't mention 'browser':
"Netscape's brand, portal, and people will help turn the promise of electronic commerce into reality," said AOL chief executive Steve Case in a conference call. [com.com]
Licensing or Fighting Adobe Patent? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:They're also icing non-AIM clients... (Score:4, Informative)
Although I'm being generous and ascribing it to:
12/10/2004 If you recently began receiving an error message indicating that your sign on has been blocked because your account has been suspended, please be patient as we restore the accounts over the next several days. We apologize for the inconvenience.
In the bug list.
I hope this is the case, since my login is just as old.