To: "Robert D. Seidman" 
Cc: Jeremy Allaire , online-news@marketplace.com
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Having used the AOL browser, I have to agree with most of the criticisms 
I've read, but I think the point it being missed. There are so many 
people on AOL who are being introduced to the Web for the first time, and 
to them, it's one of the most fascinating aspects of forking out that 
$9.95 a month now. 

The Web will ultimately suffer many growing pains and a good deal of 
sites that are already bogged down with too many accesses 
will be even more harder to get into (Lycos comes to mind), but eveything 
will settle down after a short while, AOL will improve their offering 
(they always have since I've been a member) and everyone can go about 
their business as usual.

I always advocate hooking into the Web through an ISP with a SLIP 
connection (if at all possible) over AOL, but that's certainly not for 
everyone. My concern with AOL now is will they adjust their pricing to 
accommodate the additional time users will spending on the Web with the 
sloooowwww browser. Maybe not, and maybe there is a reason to keep this 
inferior browser on there (more time online at $3 an hour spells big 
bucks). 

Just an observation ...

Mark

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
-       /\/\ark \/ehec       =
=   markv20@telerama.LM.com  -
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On Mon, 1 May 1995, Robert D. Seidman wrote:

> On Mon, 1 May 1995, Jeremy Allaire wrote:
> 
> > For those that care, AOL is on the verge of literally setting the Web
> > publishing community back substantially.  Their browser for Windows
> > (and soon thereafter Mac) is a terrible product.  Not only have they
> > ignored and failed to implement substantial and important features,
> > but they have simply failed to even implement common HTML 2.0
> > standards well.
> > 
> > While I give them credit for bringing their members online, they certainly
> > did not think with content-publishers in mind when doing so.
> > 
> > AOL's browser is a travesty, and should create an uproar by Web
> > developers over their lack of adoption of even the most minimal of
> > standards and functionality.
> 
> Jeremy,
> 
> Can you site some specifics?  I confess that I haven't used the browser
> much, but when I did:
> 
> - Forms worked
> - Image Maps worked
> - dialog boxes worked (a la authorization to log in)
> - mailto links popped up a mail form.
> 
> As I said, I haven't used the software much, but I thought
> I put it through the paces pretty well.  Please enlighten me
> on poor/nonstandard implemented features and features not implemented
> at all.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Robert Seidman
> robert@clark.net
> 

From owner-online-news@marketplace.com Tue May  2 03:04:00 1995
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