A Curmudgeonly View on AOL

Internetworld Spring 2002 in Los Angeles is Sponsored by AOL,
a company that markets it's service with the slogan, "It's so
easy! No wonder it's number one!" One wonders what that company
would get out of the crowd that is clearly not interested in
the easy stuff. These are all high tech geeks who work with
more odd acronyms than any one person needs to know. The
companies represented by the drones who toil away inside
them see software solutions as a gateway to network infra-
structure to implement cross enterprise knowledge management
within the structure of their data center while tying current
applications through XML data feeds in the backend.

But AOL is for my mom and your grandmother. People who both
need to be told, "You've got mail!" before they'll check it.
But here is AOL anyway, with a eighteen foot high bulging
balloon that looks like a computer monitor bouncing around
in front of the convention center doors like a giant Billy-
Bounce kiddy-diversion found at a state fair. Maybe they
believe that busy mommies will be driving by on busy Pico
and Figueroa Streets with a carful of kiddies that will see
their Billy-Bounce out front of the convention center. Or
it's possible that those who work with ECRM applications
during the day, go home to AOL connections each evening.

I suppose it's possible that call center and salesforce
automation software implementation might drive one to prefer
AOL. Managers struggle every day to get their employees to USE
that multi-million dollar eCRM software application in their
work until they can no longer stand the appearance of that
customized GUI at which they stare endlessly. So, it's home
to AOL! Naaaahhhhh!

Where is the mainstream at internet shows? Where's that guy
from the Circuit City commercial who runs from the house in
his slippers and bathrobe yelling excitedly, "BROADBAAAAAAND!"
His family stares in disbelief at his excited plans for high
speed internet? Where is that likeable guy who searches the
web using his default browser, set with default settings,
viewing things that can't be faulted when his wife asks him,
"I thought you were surfing the web?" He responds, dumb-
founded with, "I finished it." (a rather implausible ad for
DSL).

It sometimes seems that the internet is made exclusively for
enterprise-level IT drones who say to their co-Dilbert,
"Six million dollars worth of pure strategic thinking . . .
but given our current technology, is it implementable?, No?"

Unless you think the web is for mommies who don't know if
they have email until their computer tells them, "You've
got mail!," you've got to believe that there are worthwhile
tools for the rest of us availalble. The huge middle ground
is not made up of those IT geeks OR the busy mommy. It is
made up of a vast sea of entrepreneurs, consultants,
writers, freelancers, professionals running online
businesses and other small business people who use
the web extensively. Nobody from venture capital funded
start-ups purposely seeks out that hard to reach audience
unless they can do it through office superstores or giant
warehouse outlets.

Are there any folks out there who just have a middle level
interest, run a small business online and don't sound like
they are spelling everything when discussing business
applications? CRM, ROI, ERP, J2EE , XML and even SOAP
are on the tongues of corporate suits. Are the rest of
us lost and wandering aimlessly through InternetWorld,
sponsored by AOL and wondering what those letters are for?

Is the internet made up of either web services of interest
only to corporate CTO's OR pointless chatter from little
prepubescent girls to their best friend via AOL Instant
Messenger?

The mainstream is missing here. That is clearly part of the
odd atmosphere at web conferences as vendors hawk their wares
from fancy show booths . . . and to whom? To the enterprise,
stupid! (Someone should tell AOL that there were no
prepubescent girls attending this show.)

Soon even those using AOL will be able to accomplish all this
stuff without their browser telling them, "You've got mail!"
Maybe they'll want a colorful graphic to click on, but AOL
users may not have to be told, "Here's your latest bank
statement!" or "You've got to pay your insurance premium!"
or "It's time for Spot to get his rabies shots!"

AOL users understand that the world is available online,
even if that knowledge comes through their sign-on screen
and clicking on the little blue "Yes" button rather than
simply visiting those web sites themselves to take care of
business or look up things directly. I think it may be the
immediacy that works best for AOL, that you know you have
an email because AOL 7.0 tells you that you do. The
immediacy of AOL instant messenger (dubbed AIM) is what
makes that service so compelling for their users.

To AOL users that may take offense at my comments, I must
first ask them if they know that most of the rest of the
world uses a local cable company or independent service
provider to access the web through something called a
browser (software) and not through the "New! AOL version
7.0" junkmail CD they receive weekly in their mailbox.

Oh, and they'll never make a movie around XML or EDI,
even if they could get Meg Ryan to star in it. Maybe if
they could make the movie seats CRM compliant. Naaahhh.
"You've got user analytics data!" Wouldn't work.

About the Author

Mike Valentine operates WebSite101 for Online Entrepreneurs
and moderates the I-Privacy discussion list where he insists
that "Protecting Privacy is Good For Business"
http://adventive.com/lists/iprivacy/summary.html
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