$200 Billion To Irrelevant - What Happened To AOL?

[@freesk8]

I'm still using an AOL account I got in 1994.

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Og hahaha

[@cristianmarint]

Weird flex but ok

[@drstreptococcus]

Hmmm

[@ALEXFVHS]

My mom does too lol

[@roar]

what username you got

[@rustymustard7798]

Back in the day AOL allowed you to pay your bill through your phone bill. You entered your phone number and it was billed through them. 'Problem' was they didn't verify phone numbers, so i entered one of AOL's internal phone numbers and had free AOL till the day the closed.

[@tonytins]

My aunt used to work for AOL during the late 90s and early 2000s. She helped set up my first AOL account, that I still have it to this day. She sent a lot of merchandise to us that, as a kid, I was always super excited to get. We used AOL's dial-up all the way until mid 2000s. After the Time Warner purchase, she complained about how crazy the work environment had become and eventually left before the company came crashing down. By that point, we had finally switched to DSL and later cable internet.

[@theamazingworldofchewy2220]

Its crazy when people still give me aol emails.

[@tonytins]

@@theamazingworldofchewy2220 I know, right? While I rarely touch mine anymore, I did make sure to lock it up tight after I discovered I was still able to login into mine.

[@kingtryton]

@@theamazingworldofchewy2220I still have mine almost 20 years now 😊 you also can still sign up for new ones

[@toddfraser3353]

One aspect I found was, as AOL went from a Graphical BBS, to an Internet provider, was people increasingly becoming less interested in the AOL only service, but to the general Internet Hosted Somewhere Else Service. For those still using dial up found other ISP that were half the cost, or just used Cable or DSL Internet, which was a bit more, but offered more speed. Once people learned that AOL wasn't the Internet, they began to loose interest in it.

[@GrubbsandWyrm]

I used to do tech support for AOL. it seemed like i spent most of my te explaing how to do cntrl alt delete to old people

[@southcoastinventors6583]

Not much has changed

[@SG-bs6dm]

Even though I was in my 20s when AOL launched my husband and I never used it. We used other early browsers so I never had to hear “you’ve got mail”

[@skelebro9999]

Can you make more videos on tech companies like HP or Acer or ASUS like how you did with Lenovo?

[@FootballWarld]

He already has

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Thanks for the suggestion man. I do have a video about HP already, but I’ll def consider the other ideas!

[@skelebro9999]

​@@LogicallyAnsweredNice.

[@nonyabizwax5892]

I miss aol. Especially the chat rooms

[@airplayrule]

So many dishonest, time wasting young women there that would even make dates n stood u up if youre a guy.

[@hitmusicworldwide]

AOL was where we met girls. As soon as I found out that power I knew it was going to blow up. A friend of mine who was in the IT industry said it's going to go away when the internet comes, but it still hung on much longer than a lot of us expected

[@SquareTableDegenerates]

I had the guy who says the AOL sounds on my show, El Edwards, the "You've Got Mail" guy. He recorded the sounds in 1989 on a tape recorder.

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Ah, what’s your show?

[@SquareTableDegenerates]

Same name as my channel I'm commenting with. I interview celebs and whatnot. He was one of the first during the early days. I've had on hundreds of celebs since then.

[@RaoBlackWellizedArman]

I guess for people not living in the US, AOL was that one icon on IE homepage which we never know what it's good for!

[@Blink_____]

the first person I ever talked to on AOL was from Britain and that was around 1995/1996

[@JaesonL17]

I wish there was a way to get access to old AOL emails for accounts that were deactivated. I hadn’t logged into my AOL email for a long time, and when I tried password recovery or just entering the last known password associated with my account, it had already been wiped away. Would be funny to see what my 1999-ish self was sending and receiving back then.

[@gen-X-trader]

how old was it. my old email from 2001 is still active. i did however log in every few years since

[@JaesonL17]

@@gen-X-trader I created the email in 1998, haven’t logged in since 2004 or 2005. Definitely gone lol

[@sophiaisabelle027]

We appreciste your dedication and hard work. You'll always have our support.

[@LogicallyAnswered]

🙏

[@MithunOnTheNet]

I worked at AOL, out of Bangalore, for 8+ years. It was a great company to work for but I could see the writing on the wall for its downfall.

[@jerkytoo8184]

I remember going away to college in the mid-90s not being all that aware of AOL. When I went back home after my freshman year, AOL was everywhere. Commercials from every major company included the "AOL keyword" for their company or product.

[@someguy2135]

As a Commodore computer user during its hayday, Q-Link (from Quantum) was a fun and exciting preview of the internet. I saw a friend using it, but I went the cheaper (actually free) route by using local electtonic bulletin boards (BBS.)

[@DugEphresh]

I remember being a cable dog and doing some network cabling work at their Sterling VA, location. The receptionist who we were checking in with was a multi millionaire at the time, man I hope she got out fast enough because she was a sweetheart.

[@b0tterman]

My parents use AOL to this day. They're in their 90s. I was the Netscape generation.

[@Blink_____]

Netscape was a browser, AOL was a service.

[@goldengalsclazy]

Yahoo! owns AOL and it has option in AOL for the "You've got mail!" message too. :)

[@MysteryArchives]

I really think AOL just didn't keep up with the times and fell short.

[@danielvasquez3758]

Great video brother!! Thanks!!

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Thanks as always Daniel!

[@simplicityd8703]

Are you really a one man operation ​@LogicallyAnswered cuz I struggle to believe that

[@CeeTeeUSA]

AOL got bought by Time Warner. There are a few people left I know that have an AOL email address from back then still active. Those folks are all senior citizens..

[@danielvasquez3758]

My dad still has his AOL email address!! Don’t call him old!!

[@spookays]

my dad, case and point haha

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Hahaha

[@Jaren15949]

I still use my aol address! And I'm 35!

[@davecurry5604]

I remember when one pic took almost a min to download loll for your pops to lift up the phone receiver to mess u up.

[@_Super_Hans_]

I still use yahoo mail primarily because it's a pain to change all your email accounts over

[@harambetidepod1451]

The internet as we know it has only been around for 20 some odd years. There is still so much untapped opportunity it pisses me off that I can't think of any billion dollar ideas lol

[@dcon9995]

Hey, I'm just gonna say you ain't alone in that man lol. I feel ya. Hope one day you do get one though.

[@derek_underwood]

Word dudes! Same!

[@caseycu]

AOL wasn’t really an internet service provider, they were their own private network that didn’t offer access to the full internet until 1995.

[@hoboringmaster8029]

When I started working after college we used AIM, to my surprise, until it got shutdown probably coinciding with that private equity deal

[@drsysop]

America Online (AOL), CompuServe & Prodigy were the biggest commercial ISP's in the 90's. AOL before was Quantum Link (Q-Link) for the Commodore 64.

[@PatrickBaptist-vv2bg]

I started in the internet back in 94, using the ol usenet and IRC 9600baud I never dreamed the internet would be sooo fast 1gbps fiber for under $100 a month I could never imagine. I thought I had some fast crap when I got a T1 back in 2005-2006 and later 8/16mb cable but now Im like how much fast can it really be? I live in a tiny rural town in the mountains and even way out here were cell phones don't work I got fiber lol.

[@RJARRRPCGP]

1994, IIRC, was when I first hopped on the internet! This wasn't at home, though. Since November 26, 2013, got 1 Gb down and up FTTH. (VTel) I had 56K from very-late-2002 to May 17, 2007, when I went to VTel ADSL2. We got dead cell phone zones nearby here, LOL.

[@doomtomb3]

this was a pretty good overview of what AOL was but didn't explain why they failed besides "they didn't pivot" yes but why?

[@davidfrischknecht8261]

I still miss AIM. Free, convenient, and anonymous instant messaging.

[@PraveenSrJ01]

Remember it very well in the early 2000s

[@nickhill8612]

Yes, I miss it too.

[@tonycollazorappo]

Wow, I was 22 when AOL started. I had an account, then I think they changed by the hour then in the early 90s I think they changed a flat fee of about $20.

[@gsadow]

I wish that you had reviewed the "walled garden" business model that AOL relied upon. As I remember it, that was the main reason that limited AOL's growth. The internet was the wild west, and AOL was trying to tame the beast. That had more than a few drawbacks, however.

[@5daboz]

My old email. Today I use it as a secondary mail. Mail for websides registration that will probably send me junk that I do not want to see in my regular (Protonmail) mail where every mail I get should feel important and not missed in the sea of junkmail.

[@Merle1987]

Even though Company Man and WallStreet Millenial already made videos on AOL, you did too.

[@hypernovatv911]

One of the dirty tactics that helped bring down AOL was this tactic of continuing to bill people even though you canceled. The first time when they charged me after I canceled, I went into the bank and I canceled my card and i vowed to never use it again. Friends of mine wondered why I paid so much money for broadband Internet back then. I told them broadband was super fast and I wasn’t interested in getting screwed over by AOL. A girl I was dating at the time back in 2000 said what are you talking about AOL is free. I laughed and told her we’ll see about that. When they started to repeatedly bill her, even though she canceled I just laughed and said I told you so. AOL deserves its fate.

[@mendodsoregonbackroads6632]

Yea I remember having to cancel the credit card to get them to quit billing me. Also the software they used to set up your connection was chock full of bloatware and really slowed down the PC’s in my house that had it installed. I learned later that you could setup a dialup connection in windows without any additional software. So those floppy disks AOL used to send out weren’t needed at all.

[@bchristian85]

They continued to focus on dial-up in the 2000s, and became a laughingstock for doing so. "AOL for Broadband" was too little, too late and really wasn't anything other than an add-on for Time Warner Cable Internet that allowed you to use AOL's walled garden.

[@saviordream]

Funnily enough, my Mom's email account is still with AOL. Of course, she'll be 74 this year and is not tech savvy in the least so I think she's just never bothered changing providers since she first signed up all those years ago.

[@beatextreme3138]

Great video 👌

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Thanks for watching bro!

[@Elizabeth-vh6il]

I never understood the merger with Time Warner. Like, where was AOL supposed to fit it? Unfortunately it was far too early to be streaming movies, otherwise the combination might have been epic.

[@lancestone4409]

I still log into my AOL email for old time sakes

[@CousinSteve]

I miss the late '90s going on to aol chat rooms greatest years of my life

[@Quarktaeschli]

You do understand that if you lose 25% p.a. from the prior year it’s more like 20-infinite years

[@southernbreeze3278]

doesn't sound like AOL threw it all away so much as everything just passed them by in a flash

[@southcoastinventors6583]

The problem with AOL is they tried to be a mini internet but people started to realize that the actually internet has more content

[@PraveenSrJ01]

I remember the phrase you got mail in 1997 when I was in the 8th and 9th grade. I was wishing my crush would reply to my email 📧

[@clarencetripathi]

Fast forward 23 years, Reliance Jio did the same thing, but with free mobile internet.

[@HarvestStore]

Great video.

[@AJ-lu3wx]

I think calling it an internet company is incorrect because it was really an intranet company. I persoanlly didn't like their closed system. It was akin to Betamax and nowdays Apple.

[@AIGMateYT]

I've AOL mail also with Yahoo! Mail Interface 😅

[@AntonioReyes-l7y]

Another company that had everything is Yahoo

[@Hollowdude15]

AOL is so cool and great video man :]

[@The_Conspiracy_Analyst]

Wait tell us how that dude is getting $380,000/yr of passive income LOL

[@noblelies]

Hey, AOL. You still owe me 40,000 hours for a month.

[@AndrewDavie-er3ug]

AOL had made my right arm super muscular for some reason.

[@DaBlazesUSay]

It gave me muscle spasms!

[@Chikenbobwastaken]

Aol, more like automatic options later or America’s online

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Hahaha

[@amitabhstatton3236]

Is Google the next AOL? Only time will tell in 2033.

[@southcoastinventors6583]

Better question is can Google survive without ads revenue

[@wurlybird9]

AIM was a good messaging app.

[@ethelryan257]

AOL died because of MBAs.

[@jfkastner]

" Don't be Evil " - lol

[@alexiecierra]

I like Compaq Presario 2100 laptop. I sure like to know more

[@davecurry5604]

You took it all the way back lolll loved my presario.

[@alexiecierra]

@@davecurry5604 I loved it and used the laptop in 2007 Founded some on eBay many years ago

[@Samtheman85844]

I use AOL.

[@harharmahadev69818]

looks like you're describing today's google

[@walrusdestruction6845]

I remember getting game demo CD's in the mail

[@southcoastinventors6583]

Free coasters is what they became

[@JASONCIRONE-kp4xr]

old people use it

[@PraveenSrJ01]

I’m 40 years old

[@myworldworks]

Mehn how do you research these stuff. Tell us your secret

[@JohnSmith-hf1uf]

lot's of inaccurate in this particular video. Credibility lost on this channel. Totalresearch

[@maryroberts2099]

You used together the discs for free

[@fortniteshorts245]

Legends say if you ask to pin your comment your comment gets pinned

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Hahaha

[@fortniteshorts245]

@@LogicallyAnswered omg!!!! I have been watching you since 30k subs

[@europana7]

CDs

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Yes

[@johnnybro6000]

🎉🎉

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Thanks for watching man!

[@VazerOG]

Jinkies

[@HPkobold]

Hello

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Hey man

[@zetaconvex1987]

AOL was a PoS that did the world a favour by becoming irrelevant.

[@jetscreamer1]

I rather invest in Prodigy and Compuserve than AOL. I am a financial wizard, you know.

[@whatthepick]

I had AIM than uh forgot about it

[@gilberttello08]

👌👌

[@Elmaestrodemusica]

Can't stand this AI generated voice ....

[@jetscreamer1]

Buying Time Warner was the beginning of the end for AOL.