Easy email for Grandpa?

cobrat
Tue, 17 Jul 2012 11:52:10 +0000

Not quite sure why all the AOL-hate. It got a lot of people, myself included, to set up email accounts. It has basic functionality and that’s plenty fine for most people who aren’t using it for business purposes. I don’t really see much difference / distinction between having an AOL account or a gmail or hotmail account, to be honest, if we’re talking about getting grandma set up.



I think it’s a mix of AOL’s history of being way overpriced…especially in the '90s, increasing trend of buggy bloated software causing problems on machines, bad/extremely dumb online behavior of many of its users, and wariness among those who are more adept at computer technology as AOL is often seen by many of them as little more than training wheels for those whose inability/lack of willingness to learn even the basics about computer usage means more headaches for relatives, friends, and IT techs who will then need to help bail them out of another trouble that’s usually self-inflicted.

The expense back in the '90s and how many engineering oriented adults I’ve encountered perceived AOL as being so “dumbed down” that it encouraged folks to refuse to learn much more about computer usage basics was one major reason why they refused to get it for their families…or provide technical support for relatives who insisted on using it.