AOL Desktop Still Exists in 2025… Is It a Ripoff?

[@jayt1077]

The guy who recorded "You've got mail" recently died. His name was Elwood Edwards.

[@LDRTHM]

​@@beardsntools I did not just witness you do my boy Eddie dirty like that.

[@Lampe2020]

I just looked him up… He died one day before his 75th birthday? His life ended one day before he became 3/4 of a century old? That's just mean.

[@AnnaVannieuwenhuyse]

​@@beardsntoolspoor lad getting his looks ripped on after his passing

[@tymonsadventure126]

Thanks for making this video depressing

[@Zenoff64]

goodbye

[@CallumDixon22169]

I can imagine the dev team for this in 2025. Just two senior devs who hate each other yet have worked on only this for the past 20 years in a forgotten corner

[@santiagovillavicencio8073]

I think the people who develop this look like creed from the office. And yeah, maybe they just work silently in a corner and everyone just forgot what they do.

[@googleforcedhandle]

tbh it just sounds like junior training, they probably put them there a couple of months to get used to the company workflow and then get moved to do proper work

[@kjrehberg]

Perhaps, but the current AOL Desktop Gold client is an entirely new piece of software written using C# and has almost none of the original AOL Desktop client code except for icons, email stationery, graphics, and the email client.

[@FernandoDember-w7h]

Also, what bug fixing? At this point they are making up bugs to keep employment 😂

[@bookvee]

They sleep there and send trained rats through the airducts to obtain food.

[@ivanmaglica264]

Target audience is 100% old people that are on AOL probably since before 2000.

[@iamgermane]

I remember getting a beta of Windows 95 from some guy in 1994 on AOL. He just entered a chat room and asked who wanted it!

[@preciadoalex123]

I mean it's been like 15 years since this been relevant how many of these old people still alive

[@SamsonSilvo]

Some old people genuinely believe that you still need to have an AOL subscription to send email or even use the internet at all.

[@iamgermane]

@@SamsonSilvo And some go to any retail store with a computer trying to get free tech. help!

[@data_abort]

@@preciadoalex123 You underestimate how long old women live.

[@drewnewby]

It's a scam on seniors. They forget, and still have it and the charge every month a decade later.

[@TroubledTrooper]

Yep, and the fact that these for profit companies do this is despicable I will never support these companies like Microsoft or AOL that prey on the elderly

[@looneyburgmusic]

Lots of seniors still use AOL, so it's not a scam

[@ender2912]

yeah my grandma was still paying for it 😭

[@drewnewby]

@looneyburgermusic I've been in PC repair for 40 years, it's a scam for this product. I have countless near my age that do not know it has a fee until I "remind" them.

[@toddburgess5056]

Still use it for what? ​@@looneyburgmusic

[@ciach0_]

So, one sketchy thing about the AOL Shield browser is that at some point they forked it and advertised it as Netscape (which they have full rights to) just to make it an adware

[@cameronbosch1213]

I think some other channels covered it, like Brodie Robinson & Enderman.

[@LandonEmma]

Yep

[@RobloxAorix]

and Netscape is just chrome.

[@Ikxi]

Netscape existed before Chrome​@arobloxguym

[@Minto107]

​@@cameronbosch1213 Michael did it too in the same video as AOL shield

[@vwestlife]

"Mix toothpate with Vaseline and just watch" sounds like an idea for a future video.

[@Randi_MyMan]

👀

[@ethans166]

Do it

[@hectormiguelperezgomez6612]

Besides the Sonic petition, watching a vwestlife's comment on a Michael MJD video is quite weird for me. By the way, cool channels, being a follower of both since a couple of years ago.

[@Aeduo]

Then the webmail going immediately to ads for adult diapers.

[@mkoopman172]

Sounds like something Strong Bad would do if he was bored

[@IAmNotAFunguy]

RIP Elwood Edwards, the "You've got mail" voice from AOL. Passed away November 6, 2024 at age 74.

[@AnimeFridays]

You know what's crazy is he only made 200 dollars from that. No royalties or anything

[@Dumb_Killjoy]

​@AnimeFridays I think he must have gotten something more from that, at least I hope. On his official KZbin channel he posted a video saying he was satisfied with his relationship with AOL.

[@Refue]

I work in a IT support company, and one of our clients CEO is very old and still uses this exact browser. It horrifies me anytime I have to troubleshoot it for him.

[@skinwalker69420]

put seamonkey on his computer, it does basically the same thing without being atrocious

[@SarafinaSummers]

I am so, so sorry. It must be an accessibility nightmare for the blind. AOL used to have their own command set for JAWS as did Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.

[@RickSanchez-ig3lp]

Be glad it's based on near latest Chrome. Early 2010s I supported people angry at me and the other IT peoples when they kept trying to download IE 6 again.

[@American-Motors-Corporation]

@@Refue Well at this point yeah obviously AOL is definitely counting on these people for revenue no kidding but at the same time it's kind of a mutual deal I think in a lot of cases I mean it's a browser that they had used way on way back when it's what they feel comfortable with it is what they've always used and let's face it old people don't particularly care for change all that much so it's how they get around on the internet so to them it's useful you could show them another browser you could show them how to use the other browser you might even be able to set up some of the same stuff that AOL browser has but they're probably going to not be happy with it because the AOL browser is what they've always used it's what they feel comfortable with so is it so much of a scam or is it more so that it's just simply what they're used to it's what they like I mean I don't really see any harm and charging for that now if there's a free version of it which someone alluded to a while back then yeah go ahead and put the free version on there and show them how to use it and that way they can save the money of course you run the risk that because they're old they'll swear up and down it's 100% different. I mean when you show somebody how to do something and then it's what they've done for several years if not over a decade or two it becomes standard to them and they don't want to change I mean I'll be 40 in March but I can tell you that when I was in my 20s I preferred Yahoo over Google I was probably one of the last out of everyone I knew to actually use Google as the main page of my internet browser I actually at 1 point fucking despised and hated Google because I got totally used to Yahoo frankly I still kind of miss it.

[@YouTubeGaveMyHandleAway]

Wow, gross.

[@yaziyo]

The fact that there are ads for "Depends" in the AOL mail says it all about the expected userbase. And the irony of people on the feedback forum complaining about too many updates on software that looks like it was once used by Cleopatra as beautiful.

[@NationX]

Which makes me question if that Sonic the Hedgehog post was just a troll or if there really are older people who use AOL and are that passionate about the Sonic franchise.

[@Daniel15au]

That and the featured "suggested favourite" is an index of senior discounts. 16:27

[@neodonkey]

Dunno if its same in America but in UK we have channels showing old films - all the adverts are for life insurance, funeral plans, plans for your pet to be rehomed when you die, basically every advert is telling you "We know you'll be dead soon, please spend some of that cash you have with us in your brief remaining time"

[@AlexTenThousand]

Welp, what's more 2004 than sending an e-mail filled with a picture of Avril Lavigne and bad art of a flip-phone from your AOL client?

[@mchenrynick]

3 Doors Down saying "You've Got Mail" is in there, too =)

[@Michael-Archonaeus]

@@mchenrynick I need that stuff ported to Thunderbird!

[@TimothyMischka]

I actually downloaded Desktop Gold on a whim recently (we still pay for AOL despite no longer really using it); I archived as many of the custom sounds as I could. They're not stored in the files that are installed on your computer; they're played back from somewhere and held in a temp data folder (meaning some weren't able to be saved).

[@tacticalmattress]

Ripping a Sum 41 song and sending it in a email with some cringe inner dialogue

[@tacticalmattress]

Sending it to XxCookie_MonsterxX 😂😂😂😂

[@corinthian129]

I went in the AOL chat rooms in 2018 I think. People were still there... I think the "Dating 60+" and "Christian Singles" rooms were the most active (with like 10 people in them). There was, amazingly, still a community of people playing hand-run trivia games which dated back I think to the 1980s and Quantum Link, but tragically I think that just ended with AOL chat and they didn't make it to the web. So this AOL Desktop Gold did used to have the last vestiges of 2000s and even earlier AOL. It's a shame they turned it off... I liked having that relic of the truly old online world still around.

[@MajorOutage]

trivia games were alive and well on IRC through the 2000s.

[@corinthian129]

@@MajorOutage Well duh but I was talking about one specific community on AOL's chat rooms

[@AnotherLotte]

When I checked around 2018 too, the only active chatroom I found was the Apple/Mac chatroom. One of them told me that I should be careful around another user because he was a pervy old geezer lol. Installing the AOL 8.0 software did send me through a nostalgia trip at the time. The v8.0 software stands out to me because it was the first time we had to update the computer's RAM from 64MB to 128MB.

[@American-Motors-Corporation]

@@corinthian129 Well I will say that I myself used to like to go to the Yahoo chat rooms and yeah I messed around with the AOL chat rooms back and '03 through 6 once in a while but primarily Yahoo was where I would go... and frankly it was a blast I mean you'd get to bullshit with people around the world and then we would all cut up and troll each other we would fucking boot each other out of the chat room I mean we would be outright assholes to each other and it was fucking great and then sometime after that everybody started whining about trolls and everybody got emotionally involved with the internet and it fucked it up this is part of the reason why you can't really say or do anything on the internet anymore... I mean I remember a different time where everybody would allow their inter troll to come out and it was great I mean it was a good way to blow off steam because nobody took the internet super seriously it was not part of the real world it had real world applications but a chat room was a chat room and basically anything went. I mean us millennials got blamed for that environment on the internet for going away when in reality it was not our generations it took that away basically that started to disappear when the older people decided to get on the internet so when the boomers and the Boomer parents and the Gen x became immersed they were the real snowflakes and no it's not all of them I mean you know look the Karen's of the world are literally less than 1% of any given generation The vast majority of people do not care about that crap... but it was not only a free-for-all for trolling over in the chat rooms but it was definitely in comment sections everywhere and I get it sometimes it could be annoying but that's the whole fucking point I mean most things even the most vile of things were sad as a means of irking somebody but I can also say that those that were of senior citizen status especially didn't get it and they were some of the loudest voices and then there were those that were you know some odd years a decade or so younger than them that jumped on the bandwagon and started whining about itand that's why you can't have any fucking fun on the internet about it anymore. you know it's like recently this bullshit that's happened over in the UK about how some Karen dick head on the internet can dial up the police based on a comment you made and they tell them that you have caused them anxiety and then the police come and talk to you and possibly arrest you for some shit yeah I mean most of the people it's actually doing that they're probably well north of 40 years old there's probably a few jackasses that's under the age of 30 if not somewhere in their mid-thirties that's doing this but I would dare to say the majority are probably well north of 47 years old but that is something that society will never admit. it's kind of like the statistics on driving they've been manipulated to fit certain narratives over the years so they always blamed the teenagers is being at the most risk and the stupidest drivers in the most dangerous when in reality no no the past couple of decades has proved that it's more so senior citizens but it's gotten to the point to where even the local news when there's a case of a senior citizen driving down the freeway for miles on end in the wrong direction especially when the news first breaks they won't really release the age of the person they'll just say something to the effect of it was a person with the medical issue but we all know that it's a senior citizen and then they usually follow up with some report rambling about young people being a danger on the road. The internet is basically become the same arena everybody's got an emotionally invested in it and like I said the old people were the ones that got triggered first and my new today's old people were yesterday years middle-aged people they got upset first they're the ones that basically fucked it up for everyone else and this is pretty much why most of the chat rooms have been shut down and the chat rooms that exist are no longer fun you can't go in there and shit post you can't say anything anymore basically this is the disappearance of the internet.

[@stevensmith1031]

We'll all be like them one day

[@kpjVideo]

I worked at a computer store and tonnssss of elderly customers used this. The funny thing is, as long as you had the installer file, you could just install it and login to their AOL account without paying for anything.

[@arsvi123]

Fair enough I guess, why invest in anti-piracy measures when your average user barely knows how to turn on the PC.

[@johnsmith8981]

​@@arsvi123lol right and if they have somebody who is capable of explaining it to them and cares enough to help them out then that person would also tell them to stop using this. It's the same vibe as when scam emails have intentional misspellings so they can target the clueless people not just the greedy.

[@fuelvolts]

He tries this in the video and it doesn't work. Says he needs to pay. See 30:30.

[@Madblaster6]

Wait there's a monthly fee and you still get ads?

[@tgheretford]

Increasing numbers of "as a service" offerings are moving toward the subscription plus ads and data gathering model. Where satellite and cable TV headed was the canary in the coal mine.

[@dms12345]

Ads on a paid service make me angry.

[@TheGuillotineKing]

Most streaming services have ads and monthly subscriptions

[@kloroformd]

@@TheGuillotineKing When that started happening, some foreign data center became really interested in the shows and movies I like. Funny how that works.

[@masterkamen371]

I've gone full piracy for streamed media, buying only from small artists, also using offline media and FOSS wherever possible. Not missed the alternatives for a moment. Writing this from a modified KZbin app with no adverts, built in sponsor block and with a visible dislike count. If pirating gets me the better service in every possible way, then why would I pay?

[@_macrophage]

Yahoo/AOL knows what they are doing with this garbage. Every boomer I've talked to about AOL Desktop Gold believes this is the sole means of accessing their email. A lot of them didn't know they were paying monthly for this either. If anyone is still using AOL, they are minimum 60+ years old.

[@kaitlyn__L]

I imagine for some that might even be functionally true. The AOL web mail looks so different (a modern, Windows 10 ish aesthetic, Gmail clone) than the one in here (which AFAICR is exactly was it was around 2001-2005) they might not know where anything is! Of course, the best solution is to teach them how to get around the other option(s). But I imagine some might be stubborn enough to continue paying just to use the familiar layout (albeit that's surely only a small fraction of their actual paying customers).

[@TheSimoc]

With the last 20 years of enshittification of all mainstream software, I probably have soon to be paying for such a professionally made UI and bloatless code as AOLs.

[@piskooooo]

yep, for the longest time my parents were convinced that they had to use msn to get their emails

[@eeveeblazelol]

my great grandfather still pays for and uses AOL on his windows 7 computer, and he still loves it

[@richfan10]

Yeah absolutely. There’s obviously a big market for older people whose been using this for many years so they’re happy to stick to what they know

[@smnrave]

great grandfather? Jesus christ I feel old

[@eqprog]

@@smnrave imagine how his great grandfather feels!

[@ArinStitch]

wholesome!

[@graphicsgod]

🤦🤦

[@sinni800]

I remember once upon a time when you installed AOL and "signed into" their online service (opened the software), it would essentially open a VPN if you don't use their dial-up. Yes, it created a virtual network connection... As an European for me this meant that I'd have a free USA VPN (since AOLs IPs didn't come with a good GEOIP association, they just all came out to AOL, USA). This was helpful to play some online games which were geofenced to the US...

[@GetJesse]

Does that still work? The AOL VPN.

[@sinni800]

@GetJesse No idea, I didn't try this for years and years

[@MSX98FMDnB]

the clash between modern flat ui and early 00s/late 90s ui design is so funny to look at

[@MegAmi24]

The thing that gets me the most about the Sonic request is that they completely ignore the games, they ONLY mention the movies and cartoons. Because of this, they didn't include Ryan Drummond in the list of Sonic voice actors despite him voicing Sonic in the early 2000s.

[@kaitlyn__L]

And of course, he's the only voice I'd recognise! It's kind of funny how short of a time that really was, in hindsight.

[@sahamal_savu]

That whole Sonic thing, and your comments, make me feel a little warm and fuzzy here on the internet. I mean, it's still the internet in some places, you know? Like the old days when there were no women on the internet, only fat sweaty dudes pretending to be women. Thanks for bringing that lovely, lovely nostalgia 👍

[@PuffyRainbowCloud]

They also got the VA for Sonic SatAM wrong, as that was also Jaleel White.

[@PuffyRainbowCloud]

@@sahamal_savu What are you ON about?

[@cc3]

I actually like the fact they've not gone crazy with UI changes. A lot of the people who still use AOL are elderly and have been using the same UI for decades. We often talk about accessibility with software but we never consider how tough it can be for elderly people to adapt. Most of the western world relies on apps and smartphones with QR codes, we've got AI now just to add to the confusion. Im sure it's generally pretty overwhelming.

[@aaronthomas6155]

The last major overhaul of the AOL UI (that actually remained) was done with "AOL 9.0"...... There was a, for lack of better term, modular version of the AOL software that was tested back in the late 90's/early 00's that was called "AOL Desktop".... Basically, they removed the client background and made the taskbar/shortcut bar, buddylist and browser window all independent elements. Unfortunately, it didn't get much traction with users. A lot of people complained that it was confusing to use because they could see their Windows desktop in the background and could click on desktop shortcuts without minimizing the AOL software. It's rather sad to see that they took the "AOL Desktop" branding and gave it to the basic client software now....

[@BeckyAnn6879]

THIS! My adoptive grandma is a 'modern elder...' she'll be 68, but she understands MOST modern tech. When Google redesigned the UI for Chromebooks, she had a flip-out for a day or two... 'This isn't how I had it! Change it back!' I had fun explaining, 'I can't; this is Google's new look.'

[@cc3]

@@BeckyAnn6879 yeah it doesn't affect all of them but when it comes to things like banking where you sometimes have to use the apps, it's a crazy ecosystem to get dropped into when you've been avoiding it for years. I think a lot of people feel alienated by technology.

[@JAYDEGARROW]

I'm 33 and I love the look of it lmao. Nostalgia for me

[@ahmetdenizsezgin]

You know time is passing when Michael uses Windows 11 in his Virtual Machines

[@evdomos]

Without the egregious ads it would honestly be really cool for it to just offer an old school experience if someone just wanted some nostalgia. Well, not for $7.99 a month, but you get the idea.

[@SockyNoob]

When I worked at Geek Squad, AOL was on a ton of old boomers' computers and told us to make sure it was still there. Same with Outlook or Bell South. This was literally 2 years ago.

[@Ikxi]

outlook is still used though i hate it, cause at work it's the sole reason tbe SSDs get full cause you open it once and BAM 300mb of temp data after several years the drive just had 0 bytes free and that computer couldn't even fucking print documents and we had to use it

[@PliskinYT]

A lot of corporate jobs and schools still use outlook

[@Mr.SharkTooth-zc8rm]

If you are talking about the oldest Boomers (late 70's into early 80's) that live in some small town, OK maybe I can buy that. I'm a 70 year old in Long Beach, CA. I don't know ANYONE in their 70's that use AOL. Come on man...

[@RickSanchez-ig3lp]

@@Ikxi There isn't a real good competitor to Outlook for desktop email. Thunderbird exists but that's literally about it - they're like the USMC of email because of how constantly broke they are but still releasing code somehow haha! You'd need a well funded next-gen program that met US, EU, and NATO gov requirements.

[@link1565V2]

I still use Outlook along with my email providers standalone app (which is just a web app). Web based email is pretty terrible imo. So is Thunderbird. Stay mad Mozilla fanboys.

[@kingtom]

I hope the Sonic VAs suggestion gets the Michael MJD bump.

[@bluekewne]

Would not be surprised if this was Sonichu.

[@kennethalarsen1637]

It was me. I posted that idea.

[@majkou]

​@@kennethalarsen1637 LOL great suggestion

[@andrewdubose9968]

Regarding custom sounds: If I recall, I changed mine so that Mike Myers would say “welcome baby” in an Austin Powers voice when logging in, Adam Sandler saying “ding dong the mail’s here” in a Billy Madison voice, and Donald Trump would say “you’re fired” when logging off.

[@plushifoxed]

i remember having the russian cat from "cats and dogs" as my logoff sound, so he would say "kick your dog" in a fake russian accent when you logged out

[@SarafinaSummers]

Oh that last one aged like milk in the sun. /laughing

[@freedustin]

my favorite custom sound to play in chat rooms was {S C:\con\con bye bye windows users who have chat sounds enabled. see ya after you reboot!

[@anonnyanonymous4800]

@@SarafinaSummers I would argue it aged pretty well. Trump is more relevant than ever with being president-elect. Now, if he was in prison like R. Kelly or something, I’d agree.

[@AJayZy]

@@anonnyanonymous4800 I am honestly curious to know why 7 people also agreed with his notion of it aging poorly. Why did it age poorly?

[@robotortoise]

I remember I transitioned my mom from AOL to Chrome a while back by saying it was "basically an updated version of AOL". It worked and she transitioned over, and I'm glad it did. I didn't know they still charged money for it!!

[@lexluthermiester]

You should have done that with Firefox instead. Your mother would have a much better, more secure experience.

[@Olm-]

@@lexluthermiesterbot

[@stevethepocket]

Congratulations, you convinced your mom to install spyware on her computer. You want a medal?

[@AnEternalEnigma]

I did this for my Mom and she tried but she was yelling for me to put AOL back on after two weeks. She just doesn't want to learn anything else.

[@naturedetectiveminecraft6362]

@@stevethepocket Why ya'll so mad? It's just a web browser. I don't use chrome, but it's easy for old people. I have my grandma on a Chromebook, and it's cheap and easy for her to use.

[@kaloyandonev6088]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="486">8:06</a> This is so unmaintained, half of the time loading the search page was just redirects. Also, I love that they still have the classic "You've got mail" sound.

[@abram-green]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="439">7:19</a> The "sorry I missed you" template is vaguely threatening with the whole bullet hole thing

[@patrickcarpenter6258]

yeah that template was CRAZY

[@jizzyjake6783]

I won't miss you again

[@AnonymousFreakYT]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="64">1:04</a> - I enjoy that the MSN Premium system requirements are "Windows 7 and above" - then the actual requirements are *FAR* less than Windows 7's actual requirements.

[@link1565V2]

It's really not that complicated or unusual. It probably has dependencies that aren't present/supported in previous versions.

[@lineage6308]

To be honest, I would be supprised if it actually worked on Windows 7 as chromium dropped support for it.

[@Big_Tex]

I wonder if I can resurrect my old account and get caught up on 25 years of spam email?

[@SarafinaSummers]

Ow. I just felt a few hundred grey hairs sprout in. /jk

[@CheapSushi]

that Nigerian prince has been waiting a hella long time

[@mchenrynick]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="769">12:49</a> "Keylogging malware protection built into Windows", while M$ embeds Recall and Co-Pilot...😕

[@Marrianne415]

My grandpa passed away a few months ago, and recently I was cleaning his house (where I still live) and I found some AOL sample discs from the 90's and early 2000s and I installed one of them just to play around with and it looked just like this.... (sadly I was really limited in what I could do without an account/subscription)

[@Marrianne415]

He was still using earthlink as his primary email but sadly we didn't continue the supscription after he passed, so its gone now...

[@golem-of-thoughts]

@@Marrianne415 I'm pretty sure you still can do it somehow? If there's any actual need to do so tho.

[@physalis17]

too bad they got rid of AIM and the chat rooms. I would be tempted to try out AOL Desktop if they brought those back.

[@kjrehberg]

AIM and Buddy Lists are gone, but the chat rooms are still there.

[@kjrehberg]

Correction: I've learned that the chat rooms were removed a couple years ago or so.

[@TrentonMatthews]

Check out "Nina Dot Chat." AIM has returnned! PS. Yes, I spelled it that way for obvious reasons.

[@moquilla1]

I remember being in those chat rooms when I was a kid. “ASL?” Just a bunch of pervs.

[@kjrehberg]

@ It might surprise you to learn that even Instant Messages have been removed from AOL Desktop Gold.

[@compaqdeskpro5770]

Just a year ago, I redid an old 7th gen laptop, upgraded with RAM and SSD, fresh Windows 11 install. Customer wants me install MSN for his email, I'm like just go to the website, he's insisting it's something specific that he pays for, I am at a loss. I eventually find MSN Explorer and install it for him, he logged inand was happy that everything looked the way he wanted. I still walked away going WTF just happened.

[@freedustin]

@@justinepaula-robilliard These new versions are getting out of hand! My guitar tuner app got bought out and forced update. It used to launch instantly and go straight to tuning. Now it sits on a launch screen showing the name of the new owners for almost a minute! Then it starts trying to interview me about what kind of songs I like. I just want to tune my guitar...you don't need a psychological profile on me to listen to a note and say up or down do ya?

[@compaqdeskpro5770]

@@justinepaula-robilliard That's a problem with Apple. If Windows does something well, then Apple has to do it slightly different and worse. Window snapping is another one, they only just caved after 15 years.

[@kendalljenkins9938]

I know quite a few people that still use AOL because their email service for business has always been AOL and there's no reason to change it. Unless they changed it in the last few years, United Airlines requires all of their employees to use AOL, and United pays for the service.

[@Code7Unltd]

AOL subscriptions, when they were popular, was just access to their dialup server. Of course now, people are paying for broadband and those that need dialup for some reason (no CAT5 ethernet) can make their own server, which has been commonly done by Dreamcast gamers in the modern day (because of that broadband adapter being expensive and having *only 3 games support it* when it was relevant).

[@Aaron_Bleu]

You can tell with the UI design it’s blatantly targeted for seniors who refuse the change from the 90s. In 20 years young people will probably make fun of us for still using Steam and not Globoborgon 24 or w/e they will have

[@RickSanchez-ig3lp]

It's already happening slightly with the Epic Games Store.

[@Michael-Archonaeus]

I would love nothing more than to be able to use a perfect clone of the iPhone 4S, running iOS 6 with updated apps. Until then, I am staying far away from Apple.

[@YadraVoat]

Valve Steam? Steam has been obsolete since the launch of GoG in 2008. 🤣

[@crockstonyt]

​@@YadraVoatThis is the dumbest comment I've ever read

[@AJ-po6up]

@@YadraVoat In a perfect world where all devs and publishers make their games DRM free yes, but we don't live in that world so no.

[@JessicaFEREM]

what scammers. imagine paying $7 a month and still getting spammed with ads in the interface like that. disgraceful.

[@Dorfuto]

Is it a bad product? Yes, not even worth paying for. Is it a scam? No. This still promises some sort of security and has direct links to trusted websites. Albeit if I am paying 10-15 bucks a month I expect a more premium experience(adless, etc…)

[@SandTurtle]

@@Dorfuto "security" software is a scam as well im afraid. at best they do absolutely nothing default defender doesnt, at worst they embed themselves into your kernel, sell your data, and can only be removed if you actually reimage the disk. nortan and avast are prime examples of this.

[@danielbrown001]

⁠@@DorfutoBut you’d get the same security in ANY modern web browser for free. This is the equivalent of standing outside and selling air in jars to people. Is the air breathable? Yes. But it’s still a scam because air is free.

[@I.D.I.O.C.R.A.C.Y.]

@@Dorfuto how old are you?

[@Hans-gb4mv]

You do know about the new cover sheets for the TPS reports, right? I'll go ahead and make sure you'll get another copy of that memo. Damn, at least 1 dev at AOL has been ensuring job security. But charging $7/month and still filling this thing up wit ads? Who is crazy enough to pay for that?

[@ashtonmiller-z1n]

well 7$ a munth for usa standers is in fact pretey darn cheap even for mid to low class income standerds thats for shure. thats bacly like only like cost as much as bascly 90-100$ ish a year bacly. but you only need to pay it in monhty chunks indeta of a yealry bugget so is actaly much easyer to pay the yearly amonut wihout straing your monutly pay check that much.

[@wolfarix]

My grandfather has been using AOL Gold for years and I’ve been trying to get him away from it. This service targets elderly people and anyone else who isn’t technical savvy into thinking they need this. I’ve even shown him he doesn’t have to give up his email but still thinks that he needs to use this program. It’s a complete scam.

[@ingamingpc1634]

At that point he is senile He's at risk of people screwing him over and stealing his money it's time to start getting him away from the computer maybe giving him a Chromebook something simple that doesn't allow junk like AOL to be installed onto it

[@RickSanchez-ig3lp]

@@ingamingpc1634 Wouldn't stop scammers. They'd just tell him to pull up a "scanner" website on his Chromebook and full screen it for "maximum scanning effectiveness". It's more social engineering than anything.

[@Michael-Archonaeus]

Your grandfather being old does not make this app a scam. AOL is providing a service, at a reasonable price, and offering adequate support to keep it running, that is as far from a scam as you can possibly get.

[@link1565V2]

​@Michael-Archonaeusyeah agree. Bad product for sure. But not really a scam. It does what it says you're paying for.

[@cc3]

​@Michael-ArchonaeusIf anything it's providing a safety net for the elderly. It seems to be relatively secure, it has a familiar interface for them, it has direct links to trusted sites.

[@andrew.nicholson]

Bizarrely, my partner and I were talking about the “You’ve got mail” voice last night. The guy whose voice it is, Elwood Edwards, passed away this past November after having a stroke.

[@tougesubaru420]

“Partner” 😂

[@konatahater69]

@@tougesubaru420 what does this even mean?

[@JordanManfrey]

@@konatahater69 Le funnie bigotry XD

[@1MillionGamer-l8u]

​@@JordanManfrey it's got more common online since trump

[@badxradxandy]

"partner" *eyeroll*

[@elevatorcentral]

omg this has sooo much potential to be a good browser if it was not just one big ass bloatware package the fact the old aol from the 90s was pretty decent as far as usability with lots of useful things baked in but sadly this will never live up to what it could be

[@RickSanchez-ig3lp]

It could have been an outdated IE webview thing like MSN Explorer. Instead they do get some points for being on recent Chrome.

[@bluekewne]

I have a feeling this is marketed for an older generation that used AOL back in it's peak but never moved with the advancement in internet & computer technology (who's most likely still using a Jitterbug, or an Android phone in it's simplified layout) I grew up using AOL as a kid in the 90s & while I look back at it with nostalgia, this has **zero** appeal to me (especially at $7/month for what's essentially a glorified browser that doesn't include Internet access)

[@Damaniel3]

That's exactly what it is. Get recurring revenue from them to 'get on the internet' (even though they're already paying an ISP to 'get on the internet'), and then try to get more money by scaring them into monthly subscriptions to cover just about every 'protect yourself on the internet' product in existence. Quite disgusting, really.

[@dyter424]

Just what I thought. If you look at 16:28, the first suggested favorite is a listing for retirement homes.

[@colinstu]

I wonder who will last longer, AOL or Boomers.

[@SidewaysCytlan]

Small internet. Fun to see you watch Michael too!

[@7U57HTJRYGHG]

@@dyter424 dead giveaway when the first result is retirement stuff then it is aimed at old people

[@vinny-g6s]

Imagine working as the dev team behind this, what a nightmare it must be to support such old and broken program.

[@BillyMichalakis]

sad fact: the voice behind of " you got mail " Elwood edwards recently died back in november

[@PeteJohnson1471]

Sure it was a female voice here in the UK, think she used to say 'You have eMail'

[@SammyJ_Studios]

My dad exclusively used AOL Desktop until well into the 2010s and refused to use anything else. Luckily we weren't paying for it because we still had the Install DISK. Even I kept using it just because it was familiar until 2011 or so when the outdatedness of it was really starting to catch up. Back then it was certainly not Chromium based and didn't even have tabs yet. It's absolutely wild that they make you pay for it now, for what's essentially a bunch of embedded webpages and not even built into the client anymore. Not to mention the old "Ads on what you're already paying for". Embarrassed to admit I would actually enjoy a client laid out like this, if it actually was it's own thing and WORKED

[@ProtoMario]

These ads are so egregious. If all those services were packaged into one price, this would be great for elderly. But no, no, these clowns pray on them leaching more and more. Smh

[@dancoroian1]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1183">19:43</a> I think this is a case of your expertise getting in the way of identifying the simplest and most likely explanation -- I'd be willing to bet that this person is being duped by malicious pop-up ads with misleading messages about browser updates! The fact that they're posting feedback for an AOL browser in 2024, combined with the fact that "sites keep telling" them to update (rather than the browser itself) even though it is a recent enough version, makes me think so.

[@cameronbosch1213]

I actually knew this existed. A _certain business_ that I know of actually used AOL business Gold subscriptions for email accounts for a LOOOONG time. And yes, because my father worked there as an executive (the equivalent of a CEO), I too have an AOL email (though I almost exclusively use it for spam nowadays. No, he doesn't know much about computers; other people at the company managed this (don't get me started on the Windows 2000 to XP to 7 transitions there).

[@Ordlnary_Gamer]

@@JohnZombi88somebody’s dad left them, what, you mad because you never got to experience one?

[@dhl-96]

@@JohnZombi88what’s a nepo baby

[@cameronbosch1213]

@@dhl-96 Yeah really. Why is this idiot so offended by this!?

[@urielc918]

@JohnZombi88 you do NOT know what nepotism is 😭🙏

[@cameronbosch1213]

@urielc918 Good thing the original reply was deleted. It was quite rude.

[@squiddu]

While I'm here early, shoutouts to AOL for ditching the super boring logo in favor of something in a font way closer to the late 90s/00s stuff, still looks modern but way more unique!

[@whtiequillBj]

its sad to see how far the mighty have fallen. I remember how back in the 90s' AOL had its own alternate network using keywords that was separate from the WWW network. They had their own intranet you could access!

[@RickSanchez-ig3lp]

All www is, is DNS. They had their own DNS that understood what "AOL Keyword" was. Still amazing and something that hasn't gotten brought up for a long time (too many cloud computing sellouts).

[@rblossey]

This is the only thing I really miss about AOL. The Keyword-based websites were usually nicer than the “actual” websites at the time! They were kind of like smartphone apps in that they were smaller, not meant to be fullscreened (I can’t remember if that was possible, but I never did-everything was “self-contained” in smaller windows, with a tighter, focused design than most websites at the time). I also remember that they all had more “3D”-looking buttons you’d click on (rather than plain-text HTML hyperlinks). I really hope somebody, somewhere has archived some of these ‘cause I’d love to see them again. As a kid in the mid/late 90s, I spent a lot of time on the GamePro magazine keyword site, and others like it. Everybody talks about the old Flash games and websites that are hard/impossible to get back to, but the Keyword thing was the closest thing to a lost “parallel internet” I can think of!

[@GigaWhatt0]

I still have a bunch of old DVDs that have their AOL keywords on the back.

[@AfterBurnerTeirusu128]

I'd totally use the Avril Lavigne email template for all my important email messages.

[@HondaFan1989]

My grandma just got rid of this like a year ago after having it for over 25 years lol. It was actually surprisingly difficult figuring out how to cancel it.

[@ritual_transvestism]

Ive actually seen this in the wild, I work as tech help at a library and an elderly woman came in with it installed on her ancient computer, every other time I opened it it crashed the computer, and I had to help her cancel the subscription.

[@Sashazur]

Back when AOL was in its heyday, canceling was a nightmare. You had to do it by phone with an agent and they were trained to never confirm cancellation even if you asked 12 times, instead they just offered you freebies. I had to cancel a work AOL account and went through this. Eventually I got frustrated and hung up on the guy who never would actually say if he would cancel it or not. When I called back the new agent told me it was already canceled. Go figure!

[@Lampe2020]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="359">5:59</a> The "You've got mail!" has become a meme but is still in its original use today XD

[@DaveAdams222]

LMAO! I have the "You've Got Mail" sound as my notification in Mac Mail. I didn't realize AOL was still around and kickin.

[@SarafinaSummers]

I have a customizable star trek LCARS theme for my computer, exceeeeept? The "You've got mail!" for my incoming mail.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@SarafinaSummers no Majel Barrett saying "incoming transmission"? :P

[@juances]

-> installs screen capture protection -> still able to screen capture and upload the video online

[@ciach0_]

He was doing it on a VM

[@kFY514]

To be fair, he's running it on a VM and capturing from the host system, there's no screen capture going on as far as the guest OS is concerned. Kind of like if a physical computer were connected to a capture card instead of a screen - no software can do anything about it.

[@masterkamen371]

​@@kFY514You'd think, but many capture cards are unusable for getting video off PlayStation or blu-ray for example. You have to get a crappy/shady capture card to capture this "DRM" video. The whole "copyright industry" that pure greed has spawned is both impressive and horrible.

[@kFY514]

@masterkamen371 Well yeah, the software could try enabling HDCP to prevent external capture. But that wouldn't work over, say, VGA or something.

[@Cenentury0941]

@masterkamen371 Haven't verified it myself, but read in a different comments section that using a HDMI splitter can also get you a DRM free stream.

[@bankruptsee]

This is the antidote to the "dead internet theory".. I love every bit of this

[@EthelKat73]

It’s the “undead internet theory” hahahaha

[@TroubledTrooper]

Feels like they should make their own distro instead. They could fork some kiosk distro.

[@srsa2436]

Given that their entire operation seems to be scamming older people into thinking this is quite necessary to log on and securely use the Internet, making their own OS would be counter productive as no one would use it.

[@iamgermane]

I remember getting a personal email from the AOL mail server admin with their name on it, telling users they are doing maintenance!?!? This was in 1994 when it was not that big.

[@majoryoshi]

My grandparents still have this. I genuinely thought it went free or something like that, but hearing people are still paying for it, begs the question if they’re paying for it because they wanna keep their ancient AOL email

[@kFY514]

I think the intended audience for this products is boomers who want to use their computer _exactly_ the same way as they did for 30 years. For 7 bucks a month. That being said, I'm not from the US, AOL was never a thing where I live so there is no nostalgia for me, unfortunately(?).

[@timcat1004]

It took me a year and a half in 1997 to close my AOL account and stop them from charging my CC.

[@wolf1438]

Would you do followup video if they added Sonic the Hedgehog voice?

[@cyber_pirate]

it’s funny bc i do have an AOL email just because it’s kinda funny to still have and send to people but even when you don’t use their official client, they find ways to send you ads for their products through your inbox. you can turn them off, but every once in a while they’ll still find a way push their ads to your inbox

[@0xEARTH]

I just want to point out the fact that we have some modals that are using an XP-style design language, the main windows use the Vista/7 Frutiger Aero language, and some just straight-up use Windows' default (so Fluent since you're on 11) design language. This program does NOT know what era it wants to be in.

[@ctrlaltrees]

As someone who first started on AOL way back in 1995 I can confidently say having watched this video that it's barely changed at all in 30 years - although kind of crazy that something that costs $6.99/month is absolutely infested with ads 🤨

[@Noxedwin]

Rest in Peace to the "You got mail!" guy.

[@DonnieTinaka]

stop spreading rumors. it still works

[@Crispeywater]

@@DonnieTinakahe’s talking about Elwood Edwards, who recorded the “You Got Mail!” Sound effect, who passed away on November 4th, 2024.

[@DonnieTinaka]

​@Crispeywater Im 63and been using aol for decade and he still sounds fine. You don't know what your talking about. He gave me a notification this morning infact. Stop with the morbid lies for petes sake

[@Crispeywater]

@@DonnieTinaka Elwood Edwards is the guy who recorded the Sound Effect, the voice on AOL is still there, but the voice actor passed away, so you’ll still hear the “You Got Mail!” Sound Effect, but the voice actor behind it isn’t alive.

[@SarafinaSummers]

He also voiced the "hello" and "goodbye" snippets for the program, from the sound of the voice.

[@SonicPower]

the fact you need to pay for it and they show you ads when downloading a file

[@madelinemckinley]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1530">25:30</a> Seeing the modern windows file manager threw me for a moment lol, I was so immersed in the 90s/early 2000s UI I forgot this was modern windows lol. I guess it must have enough subscribers they dont want to lose to make it worth maintaining it. Would be interesting to know how many people pay for it

[@DankRedditMemes]

Only 720 hours? What a rip-off, the free trial used to be at least 1000 hours!

[@freedomlinux]

Early on, the AOL trial really was limited - 10, 15, or perhaps 40 hours on the early floppy disks. The CD trials got increasingly generous over time, with hundreds of hours - some of the oddly-specific ones I remember were 540 hours in 30 days, or 1045 hours in 45 days. The largest offer I saw was 1500 hours and then just Unlimited. We bought a new computer in 2002 that came with 6 months (wow!) of both MSN and AOL. Didn't pay for Internet for 2-3 years

[@LavenderRebellin]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1550">25:50</a> an ad in the *download manager* is insane

[@YouareDEDnotbigSurprise]

Even the video ID says "WHY"

[@JayseBoiOfficial]

WHY

[@user-gj1lb6xp3t]

What happens when you mix toothpaste with vaseline?

[@worminstool]

Ya get Brylcreem.

[@Hans-gb4mv]

A big mess?

[@gamagama69]

you get thrown into adhell

[@nadussee]

Seems like an effective ad if youre thinking about it. But also stupid enough that id expect to see it on the fake internet in like gta 5.

[@skinwalker69420]

okay I know this is a more professional space but what would anal be like with this

[@yesterdaysrose5446]

> "You've got mail, Michael" I'm frankly disappointed that wasn't in KITT's voice. Talk about a missed opportunity!

[@Bloodocean77]

Growing up in Florida tons of old folks still think AOL is the internet and they don't have any idea about browsers or anything so lots of them still use it. They think AOL is what the Internet looks like and are set in their ways and are unlikely to change.

[@cocomonkilla]

I would love to see the intersection point of the Venn diagram of people techy enough to want bleeding edge beta builds but not techy enough to realize AOL is wholly unnecessary

[@MongooseTacticool]

Yeah, that's such an oddly specific combination of users.

[@xXBlueSheepXx]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="185">3:05</a> I love the advertisement for Depends, they know their audience 🤣

[@slightlyaboveaveragebutaverage]

Their target demo is definitely seniors, but I've known, worked with, and worked for plenty of gen x dudes that still use it. They're not dumb or anything, it's just a mail client that they understand and don't feel the need to change. Whether they were paying or not I have no clue.

[@libertyernie]

I once worked on a web app with webcam support, and I had a habit of trying all sorts of edge cases. AOL Desktop Gold, at least at the time, didn't ask which webcam you wanted; it just grabbed the first one. That's what clued me in that Chromium browsers' webcam permission wasn't on a camera-by-camera basis and I needed to add my own device picker UI.

[@3DJapan]

But where are the IMs?

[@AnonymousFreakYT]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="615">10:15</a> - AOL Keywords significantly _predate_ public internet service! Companies would (rarely but occasionally) put their AOL Keyword on ads (especially in computer magazines) going back to the _'80s_.

[@Iced-Tea]

AOL: 90% ads, 10% toolbar

[@techbaffle]

It's like a time capsule! You'd think paying for AOL Desktop Gold would get rid of adverts, but instead is packed with their own, plus heaps of software senior citizens may get scared to install. It's not surprising that Yahoo now owns AOL, as they have so much in common. Though it is nostalgic, it seems AOL won't remove it, but also don't have the funds to properly update it. Maybe it's one of the things that Yahoo just doesn't know what to do with.

[@TheBsmith97]

I work IT, many many people think they NEED this software to even get on the internet.

[@SetariM]

When I worked in IT, the amount of people who still used Outlook 2007/2010 was... gross. So many people...

[@skinwalker69420]

​@@SetariMoffice 2010 is the goat, don't slander it like that

[@yotoprules9361]

@@skinwalker69420 it was but it no longer gets security updates, which is the problem.

[@bankruptsee]

@@SetariM That's because you could pay once and not have a subscription. Everything these days is a scam that requires monthly payments.

[@RickSanchez-ig3lp]

@@bankruptsee You can still buy MS Office like that, but only buried on MS's website and on more prosumer websites. MS actively blocks mainstream consumer retailers like Best Buy and Target from selling anything other than Microsoft 365 subs.

[@rusefoxghost]

This software 100% only exists for old people who got it back in the 90s and will never try learning a modern program. I have an older relative that uses it, and knows it like the back of their hand! I had to help them with a computer upgrade and the first thing they asked about was making sure AOL worked!

[@DIDtoChrist]

Why not? I use the same planer and diary software I used when I was a kid in ´08; even though I had a 5year gap… and I am just 28!

[@MintleafCakes]

its so fun to see that somehow, some way, things like these are still kicking in their little corners of the net

[@stewie410]

My aunt and uncle use this still -- when I tried to move them away from it, they refused to listen because they had been using it for so long. I wanna say they were paying $30/mo. the last time I checked.

[@RelicRS]

I wish I was joking but my grandpa (who uses computers quite a lot for his advertising company) uses this still. I’m essentially his IT guy but he literally cannot comprehend how to get to his email on chrome, edge or Firefox. I can’t stand it and he even had to update to windows 10 JUST because of AOL.

[@randomgreekhuman]

im still not used to 2025 so i was confused when i saw 2025 in the title

[@DonnieTinaka]

it changed on the 31

[@randomgreekhuman]

@@DonnieTinaka no way fr???

[@DonnieTinaka]

@@randomgreekhuman yahh bro. you do the chinese new year? Its always the same for us

[@NationX]

The moment I found myself reacting the same way as him to hearing “Welcome” and “You’ve got mail!” I realized I’m officially getting old

[@Leahi84]

I've got the "you've got mail" as my email notification sound on my Google pixel. It's fun seeing people's reaction when they hear it. So much nostalgia.

[@EdTheNerd]

Sadly alot of older folks will see a prompt to pay for something and reach for their wallet without thinking of what it is theyre buying. The fact this program seems to lead people into multiple subscriptions for effectively the sake thing is probably deliberate.

[@ego-lay_atman-bay]

To be honest, I don't think I've ever seen an ad in a desktop programmer before now. And when I say "ad", I mean the kind of ads you see on random websites, I'm not talking about stuff like "please donate money" stuff.

[@JunshuLiu]

Didn’t know AOL changed its logo again. Personally I think the new logo has some 80s vibe because of the rounded edges. Reminds me of The Weather Channel logo used from 1982 to 1996.

[@kaasplankje]

So you pay monthly to get ads?

[@NPGLAMB]

This is for our senior population who can never catch up to the times. My grandparents had dial up until 2009. My parents never had dial up as long as I remember a computer ( born in 00, remember since 04)

[@Poorgeniu5]

Whoever is the programmer, it must look odd on their resume accompanied with HR saying "They still sell that?!"

[@KyleVoices]

They could totally market this for the nostalgia, but it’s being taken so seriously, it’s astounding. I guess it is for old people who don’t like change. Putting ads in when you’re already subscribing to the service is diabolical though.

[@kubev]

I was actually thinking a while back that the A.I. push in search engines could very well increase the appeal of Web portals and make a product like AOL as a paid service viable again.

[@AustinCameron]

Aren't they the corp where majority of their customers are dead but the bank accounts are still open?

[@BrenIrwin]

I love how it's supposed to be a paid product and yet everything is chalk full of ads. Depends for men anyone?