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AOL Renews Interest in Mac with AIM Beta 1

Finally, jeez! A lot of people still use AIM, though MSN and Yahoo dominate outside of the US...

And a reason to use AIM vs. iChat, is there are more features, and some work better, like file transfer with Windows peeps (works better than iChat sometimes), additional info like online/idle time, and tabbed chatting without modification (like Chax for iChat). Of course, iChat is still best for video chats...
 
for now i stick with adium until trillian for mac is released. i signed up for beta testing but still have not gotten anything about it. most of my friends all use aim.
 
Nice to see reNewed interest in this (and taking macs seriously), however I am moving away from AOL and AIM. Since when are they developing software again? AOL has been in decline as they were bought out by time Warner, and they were going to transition away to becoming an advertising company....
 
Poor AOL

Poor AOL is trying so hard just to stay behind the curve. I can just picture their developers still trying to learn to use a camera phone.

There is nothing new or special here.
 
Fairly sure this Beta has been out for months on the AIM labs site. Didn't bring back the chat rooms though, doesn't everyone miss the days of old aim and chat rooms full of random real people?
 
fabsgwu said:
Finally, jeez! A lot of people still use AIM, though MSN and Yahoo dominate outside of the US...

And a reason to use AIM vs. iChat, is there are more features, and some work better, like file transfer with Windows peeps (works better than iChat sometimes), additional info like online/idle time, and tabbed chatting without modification (like Chax for iChat). Of course, iChat is still best for video chats...
Click to expand...

iChat has had tabbed browsing for quite a while.
 
I can't tell you how much I miss the bouncing faces just flying across the screen. By far the best feature of AIM right? crickets... What no ones with me?
 
I am in agreement with those who see this as a positive thing. More competition is rarely a bad thing, and I also see this as proof of a growing platform. Sure, Adium is what I use daily, and occasionally use iChat for video and file transfers, but do I think that AOL reentering this market is a bad thing? Not if it pushes more/faster updates for the programs I do use.
 
What's really going on here?

- AOL is, once agin, creating an IM for their service even though the 'market' is already full of choices.

- They're not doing this out of the goodness of their own hearts, they are doing this for marketing. AIM for Mac Beta 1 is probably just part of the software that they would create for Mac. I'm guessing later on when/if the final product is out, it will sneakily come with some sort of AOL advertising service/software. That's what happens when you download AIM for Windows and that's what will most likely happen for Mac.

- This is just another lame attempt for AOL to go viral as they have tried before, but failed (AOL Video for one).

I don't even think this should be posted at all, as this just is one too many ways for AOL to get noticed again.
 
fabsgwu said:
Finally, jeez! A lot of people still use AIM, though MSN and Yahoo dominate outside of the US...
Click to expand...

I used AOL and ICQ simultaneously back in the day, back when MSN was still a brand new internet service, and Yahoo was still a simple website.

MSN and Yahoo are for n00bs, don't forget we invented the internet, the rest of the world copied us. XD

Actually, if you don't have an ICQ number and can't claim your stake of history, then you're too n00b to criticize people's choice of IM client. XD
 
hm. Adium / iChat have this covered. Why one earth is this on the Front Page?

Surely SURELY front page news should be any Apple releases, maybe software updates. EVERYTHING else should be on Page 2....
 
i just wish apple would incorporate the multiple chats into one window, as AIM does, with tabs for different conversations. it is just cumbersome and annoying when talking with multiple people and having to use exposé to find the chat.
 
motulist said:
Not in the US. I've heard MSN Messenger is totally dominant in the UK, but here in the states Messenger is virtually absent from the IM market share.
Click to expand...

Yep, only people I know in the UK that use AIM/iChat are Apple employees. It's either Live Messenger or Skype.

Twitter and Seesmic or Bambuser are popular amongst my friends too.
 
last version was better

ever since AOL did away with file folder sharing on both mac & pc i could care less. I still use AIM version 5.9 on my PC at work cus it allows me to access my friend who has the old mac versions shared file folder. this new version is useless, stick to adium its prettier and more useful:rolleyes:
 
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