American Online

Back in the mid ‘80’s, there was an online service called Quantum Link.
This service was for the Commodore 64, the old computer. Remember them?

Q-Link, as it was commonly called, was a pretty neat service. It was effective, new, and very neat for geeks of all kinds, who like to get online and chat with other people around the country.

Back in 1991, it changed its name to American Online, the popular online service of today.

I have been a member since 1985 and still am a member.

I haven’t had much issues with AOL as other people. I have heard the horror stories. Not pretty. It’s not called “AHole in Hell” for nothing.

But...now from what I have seen in the last few yrs and less, AOL is slowly dying and becoming a dinosaur real fast.

An example of this is the lastest cut of America Online Hometown/FTB and AOL Journals.

J-Land, as it’s called for those who have blogs on American Online, is closing their doors.

A lot of people have their blogs on AOL and now they are being told that they need to find another provider. They are also being informed on how they can save their blog/information and transfer to Blogger. That should be fun to do for AOL and Blogger have different platforms, right?

Here is what the AOL Journals Team says about this:

“Dear AOL Journals user,


We're sorry to inform you that on Oct. 31, 2008, AOL® Journals will be shut down permanently. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.


It is very important that you save your Journals content before the shutdown. We're working on a way to easily move your Journal to another blogging service -- you can expect an email within the next week with more details about how to do it. We want the transition to go as smoothly as possible for you, so you'll have two choices. You can either save your information manually and find another place to blog on your own, or let us handle the migration for you and automatically transfer your Journal to a different blogging service.


In the meantime, please bookmark the People Connection Blog, where you can find out more about AOL Journals. You can also subscribe to the People Connection Blog RSS feed to stay informed about any changes. We'll be updating the People Connection Blog often, so please check it regularly.


Sincerely,


The AOL Journals Team”

Just like that. Poof. Gone. With hardly any reasonable explanation why they are getting rid of Journals.

Gee thanks, AOL.

This is only one example of things changing at AOL. A lot of their employees are being axed as well.

All good and great, but what will AOL look like after it’s all done?

Will there will be anyone left to be at and on America Online?

Time will tell.

I used to have a PC. Now I have an iMac.

I wasn’t going to put AOL on my new computer, but as of today, I have the Mac version of AOL on my desktop.

We shall see how long that lasts.

It was a good run, America Online. Twenty-four years online. Do you think you will continue?

Again, we shall see.