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JimiMac · Apr 24, 2004, 02:48 AM

Well, after again trying to use Mail, even now that you can access AOL email through the Mail App, I'm back to using the AOL software and client for my email. For all the AOL bashing I see on Mac forums, I still haven't seen an easier to use and more accessible email program than AOL. On AOL, I can:

Check email from anywhere: home computer, web, cell, pda, phone, tv....

I can easily switch between using Airport, dial up, ethernet and not have to worry about switching smtp outgoing mail servers.

I can be assured that all my read and sent mail are stored on my computer, in a file that lets me rename emails received, and organize them into subfolders.

I can check the status of and even unsend mail that I've sent.

I can easily switch between up to 7 email addresses/identities for work, home, fun, etc.

I can pull and use addresses in OS X's Address Book to automatically address AOL email with a great app called BuddyPop.

Millennium · Apr 24, 2004, 08:12 AM

I prefer AOL Communicator to the AOL client itself for accessing AOL mail. Much more powerful than the client, without the hassles of IMAP.

JimiMac · Apr 24, 2004, 09:58 AM

The only thing with communicator is you can't set it up to be your main email client in OS X. When you do, and you click on a mail link in Safari, nothing hapens. With regular AOL, it works.

zachs · Apr 24, 2004, 10:09 AM

Originally posted by JimiMac:
The only thing with communicator is you can't set it up to be your main email client in OS X. When you do, and you click on a mail link in Safari, nothing hapens. With regular AOL, it works.

It works fine for me.

CharlesS · Apr 24, 2004, 10:54 AM

Originally posted by JimiMac:
Well, after again trying to use Mail, even now that you can access AOL email through the Mail App, I'm back to using the AOL software and client for my email. For all the AOL bashing I see on Mac forums, I still haven't seen an easier to use and more accessible email program than AOL. On AOL, I can:

Check email from anywhere: home computer, web, cell, pda, phone, tv....

Huh? You can do that with any e-mail account that supports webmail.

I can easily switch between using Airport, dial up, ethernet and not have to worry about switching smtp outgoing mail servers.

Just get an e-mail account with its own SMTP server and use it instead of the one provided by the ISP.

I can be assured that all my read and sent mail are stored on my computer, in a file that lets me rename emails received, and organize them into subfolders.

Um, POP3?

I can easily switch between up to 7 email addresses/identities for work, home, fun, etc.

That's odd, if you can only do that with AOL, then I wonder why I've been using 8 different POP and IMAP e-mail addresses for so long without using AOL.

I can pull and use addresses in OS X's Address Book to automatically address AOL email with a great app called BuddyPop.

Oooookay, yeah. Um, I can use Address Book to automatically address mail in Mail.app, since that's kind of what it was designed for...

Holigen · Apr 27, 2004, 01:52 AM

Ya, umm, I like Mail... Having used AOL for Mac, its kinda slow and bloated. Too much useless crap that I dont care about like all that news and games and stuff. Mail is simple, easy, and fast.

Diggory Laycock · Apr 27, 2004, 05:28 AM

Originally posted by JimiMac:
Well, after again trying to use Mail, even now that you can access AOL email through the Mail App, I'm back to using the AOL software and client for my email. For all the AOL bashing I see on Mac forums, I still haven't seen an easier to use and more accessible email program than AOL. On AOL, I can:

Check email from anywhere: home computer, web, cell, pda, phone, tv....

Yep same here - using my normal mail server

I can easily switch between using Airport, dial up, ethernet and not have to worry about switching smtp outgoing mail servers.

I never switch my SMTP Servers. If your ISP doesn't allow traffic on Port 25 to go outside their net then that's their fault.

I can be assured that all my read and sent mail are stored on my computer, in a file that lets me rename emails received, and organize them into subfolders.

I can't rename received emails - but the rest are true.

I can check the status of and even unsend mail that I've sent.

Un-Sending Mail? Sounds wrong to me.

I can easily switch between up to 7 email addresses/identities for work, home, fun, etc.

Same here.

I can pull and use addresses in OS X's Address Book to automatically address AOL email with a great app called BuddyPop.

I can pull and use addresses using a number of apps.

So what's so good about AOL again?

Millennium · Apr 27, 2004, 05:36 AM

Originally posted by Diggory Laycock:
Un-Sending Mail? Sounds wrong to me.

AOL's Unsend feature only works if the recipient of the e-mail has not actually read it yet; once they do you can no longer unsend.

It's one of those features that isn't needed often, but when you need it you really need it.

CharlesS · Apr 27, 2004, 05:51 AM

Originally posted by Millennium:
AOL's Unsend feature only works if the recipient of the e-mail has not actually read it yet; once they do you can no longer unsend.

It's one of those features that isn't needed often, but when you need it you really need it.

Well, being the only thing on his entire list that wasn't possible using just about any typical ISP, it had better be good. Seriously, though, I would imagine that unsend would only work if the recipient was also an AOL user, as otherwise it would require being able to access the other POP/IMAP server and delete things from it. And really, what percentage of the time do you e-mail AOL users compared to all other ISP's?

GENERAL_SMILEY · Apr 27, 2004, 06:25 AM

There is an 'unsend' option in Outlook (I think), a couple of times I have received strangely crafted e-mails which look like they're trying to rescind another mail - maybe it is an exchange thing?

The AOL Browser is really slow, you've got to admit that.

-Q- · Apr 27, 2004, 07:41 AM

Originally posted by GENERAL_SMILEY:
There is an 'unsend' option in Outlook (I think), a couple of times I have received strangely crafted e-mails which look like they're trying to rescind another mail - maybe it is an exchange thing?

Yep. Usually used when you've sent a nasty comment to someone and then once you've had a chance to cool off realize 'oh sh!t what have I done'.

themarvelous3 · Apr 27, 2004, 10:58 AM

i alwasy hated AOL. bad customer service, bad slow and unstable connections. and if you wanted high speed, you had to pay for the use of the program AND the service..

here's the clencher:
you can get AOL highspeed for what is it now, 50 - 60 bucks a month?
OR you can get RoadRunner highspeed for 40 bucks a month
OR you can get Earthlink for $35 a month.

guess what.

THEY ARE ALL THE SAME COMPANY.

Time Warner and AOL merged a few years back and so they are the same and Time Warner or AOL created Earthlink.

I hate sneaky companies. I work for one too and i'm not to fond of it either

madmacgames · Apr 27, 2004, 01:01 PM

Originally posted by JimiMac:
For all the AOL bashing I see on Mac forums

For the record, you'll see AOL bashing on pretty much any computer forum, Mac or PC, it doesn't matter, they get bashed the same.

madmacgames · Apr 27, 2004, 01:07 PM

Originally posted by Millennium:
AOL's Unsend feature only works if the recipient of the e-mail has not actually read it yet; once they do you can no longer unsend.

That is only partially true. You can only unsend if the email has not left the AOL mail server and has not been read, ie, you can only unsend if you sent the email to an AOL recipient and no-one else (I read if you send an email to both AOL and non-AOL addresses, that cancels out your ability to unsend to the AOL user(s) you might have sent to).

CharlesS · Apr 27, 2004, 01:12 PM

Originally posted by madmacgames:
That is only partially true. You can only unsend if the email has not left the AOL mail server and has not been read, ie, you can only unsend if you sent the email to an AOL recipient and no-one else (I read if you send an email to both AOL and non-AOL addresses, that cancels out your ability to unsend to the AOL user(s) you might have sent to).

Aha, that's what I thought. So much for that feature, as next to no one I ever send e-mail to has an AOL account. I know only one AOL user myself - all other e-mails I've sent to AOL accounts in the last year were only responses to support requests for my software. That's it.

The fact that the rest of the benefits you listed are true for just about any ISP reinforce my belief that most people that use AOL do so because they've never used a proper ISP and don't understand how much nicer it is.

AKcrab · Apr 27, 2004, 02:09 PM

Originally posted by CharlesS:
The fact that the rest of the benefits you listed are true for just about any ISP reinforce my belief that most people that use AOL do so because they've never used a proper ISP and don't understand how much nicer it is.

Exactly. It's simply ignorance.

rambo47 · Apr 28, 2004, 04:53 PM

I think a lot of the AOL bashing has to do with their lousy dial-up service. Getting booted off in the middle of a large download can make anyone a little nuts. Folks that started with AOL as part of their first computer experience (like my father) want to stick with it because it's familiar and simple. Having email and web browsing in one package appeals to novices. Once you use AOL with your own broadband connection the overall user experience gets much better.

benb · Apr 28, 2004, 04:59 PM

Originally posted by madmacgames:
That is only partially true. You can only unsend if the email has not left the AOL mail server and has not been read, ie, you can only unsend if you sent the email to an AOL recipient and no-one else (I read if you send an email to both AOL and non-AOL addresses, that cancels out your ability to unsend to the AOL user(s) you might have sent to).

Same with "checking to see if they read it yet".

AHDuke99 · Apr 28, 2004, 10:20 PM

when were we able to access AOL mail through mail? Can someone tell me how? I'd love too, what type and server addresses do I use?

zachs · Apr 28, 2004, 10:22 PM

Originally posted by AHDuke99:
when were we able to access AOL mail through mail? Can someone tell me how? I'd love too, what type and server addresses do I use?

Account Type: IMAP
Email Address: [email protected]

Incoming Mail Server: imap.aol.com
User Name: (screenname)
Password: (password)

Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.aol.com

jules · May 7, 2004, 09:31 AM

Is it possible to connect to AOL highspeed with Airport?

(This is for my brother who I have just "forced" to switch to Mac..haven't been able to convince him to give up AOL yet) I assumed it could be done but I may have to eat crow... :-(

Moose · May 7, 2004, 10:26 AM

Originally posted by Diggory Laycock:
If your ISP doesn't allow traffic on Port 25 to go outside their net then that's their fault.

You'd be surprised on how much spam/viruses comes from dialup/cable/DSL/resnet/end user machines. Either intentionally or unintentionally. It's enough to choke a team of oxen.

mitchell_pgh · May 7, 2004, 10:52 AM

What, you all don't have the un-send email feature?

I once send out a mass email to 120 coworkers about a one night stand with the summer intern...

Lucky for me, my friend told me about it and I hit un-send.

LeeG · May 9, 2004, 12:05 PM

I saw the title, and thought it was a joke. I guess this really is a thread claiming AOL to be good for something. Huh, who knew...

L

CharlesS · May 9, 2004, 12:17 PM

Originally posted by rambo47:
Once you use AOL with your own broadband connection the overall user experience gets much better.

Yes, but the user experience is still inferior to just using the broadband connection, and a lot more expensive. Really, what's the point?

mitchell_pgh · May 9, 2004, 07:31 PM

Originally posted by CharlesS:
Yes, but the user experience is still inferior to just using the broadband connection, and a lot more expensive. Really, what's the point?

AOL is great for people that don't know anything about the internet, computers and bargain shopping.