Atreides Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 Read this on Yahoo News and thought it's funny. Number 1 on the list 1. America Online (1989-2006) How do we loathe AOL? Let us count the ways. Since America Online emerged from the belly of a BBS called Quantum "PC-Link" in 1989, users have suffered through awful software, inaccessible dial-up numbers, rapacious marketing, in-your-face advertising, questionable billing practices, inexcusably poor customer service, and enough spam to last a lifetime. And all the while, AOL remained more expensive than its major competitors. This lethal combination earned the world's biggest ISP the top spot on our list of bottom feeders. AOL succeeded initially by targeting newbies, using brute-force marketing techniques. In the 90s you couldn't open a magazine (PC World included) or your mailbox without an AOL disk falling out of it. This carpet-bombing technique yielded big numbers: At its peak, AOL claimed 34 million subscribers worldwide, though it never revealed how many were just using up their free hours. Once AOL had you in its clutches, escaping was notoriously difficult. Several states sued the service, claiming that it continued to bill customers after they had requested cancellation of their subscriptions. In August 2005, AOL paid a $1.25 million fine to the state of New York and agreed to change its cancellation policies--but the agreement covered only people in New York. Ultimately the Net itself--which AOL subscribers were finally able to access in 1995-- made the service's shortcomings painfully obvious. Prior to that, though AOL offered plenty of its own online content, it walled off the greater Internet. Once people realized what content was available elsewhere on the Net, they started wondering why they were paying AOL. And as America moved to broadband, many left their sluggish AOL accounts behind. AOL is now busy rebranding itself as a content provider, not an access service. Though America Online has shown some improvement lately--with better browsers and e-mail tools, fewer obnoxious ads, scads of broadband content, and innovative features such as parental controls--it has never overcome the stigma of being the online service for people who don't know any better. Spreading beauty with my katana. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaguars4ever Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 A pity they're all pretty much software or computer hardware. I'm sure most of us can recall gadgets or misc. electronics that were absolute howlers. That Gizmondo is one of the latest additions to be honored with this accolade. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atreides Posted May 27, 2006 Author Share Posted May 27, 2006 I should have added it's by PC World. Starforce didn't make the top 25 though. Spreading beauty with my katana. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyCrimson Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 I knew there was a reason I didn't like RealPlayer. Personally I'd add QuickTime to that list...tho I haven't tried it in a little while. “Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenghuang Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 The Power Glove!!! RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walsingham Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 I dislike them intensely, but in the spirit of fairness i should say that I used their free trial and forgot about it. They started billing me, and I rang up to cancel. The young man I spoke to acknowledged not only my right to cancel, but in fact refunded the money since the trial period ended, since he could see I hadn't used it. Which was pretty decent. "It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"." -Elwood Blues tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chupacabra Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 Having Realplayer and Windows ME, I can verify with clear conscience that both are pieces of s**t. Every time Realplayer runs on my system it causes problems, and there is almost not a day that goes by where something doesn't go wrong on ME. Which is why later this summer I'll be upgrading to Windows XP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hassat Hunter Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 Used ME myself. Never noticed any problems. Ofcourse when I got my own PC and my parents got ahold of the ME-PC hell broke loose and the PC turned into utter crap (-2500% performance anyone?); but that says more about them than ME... ^ I agree that that is such a stupid idiotic pathetic garbage hateful retarded scumbag evil satanic nazi like term ever created. At least top 5. TSLRCM Official Forum || TSLRCM Moddb || My other KOTOR2 mods || TSLRCM (English version) on Steam || [M4-78EP on Steam Formerly known as BattleWookiee/BattleCookiee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surreptishus Posted May 27, 2006 Share Posted May 27, 2006 Real Alternative and QT alternative are the way forward. The originals are just horribly invasive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metadigital Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 A pity they're all pretty much software or computer hardware. I'm sure most of us can recall gadgets or misc. electronics that were absolute howlers. That Gizmondo is one of the latest additions to be honored with this accolade. " <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Wasn't that a dummy product for the mob to launder cash with? Oh oh, I've said too much ... OBSCVRVM PER OBSCVRIVS ET IGNOTVM PER IGNOTIVS OPVS ARTIFICEM PROBAT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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