Verizon Buys AOL

[Aminifu]

http://www.zdnet.com/article/verizons-4-4-billion-aol-bet-five-reasons-the-deal-makes-sense/?tag=nl.e539&s_cid=e539&ttag=e539&ftag=TRE17cfd61

In a way, I'm sad to see AOL go. My 1st home connection to the internet was via AOL and a dial-up modem. Yeah, I'm old as dirt. I still have a few AOL CDs that I use as coasters.

Would Verizon have been a better owner of Winamp than Radionomy? So far Radionomy seems only interested in SHOUTcast.

[musicf8]

I was wondering that myself, what would happen to Nullsoft & Winamp if it was still with AOL now? Wish I bought stock when AOL was spun out...

But tbh, i'm more curious about AIM. I still use it at work (god knows why, but that's what they use) and a part of me never wants to let go of my 17 year old screen name. Still... i'm surprised AIM hasn't gone the way of being merged with another instant messenger (like google since they had the partnership).

[DrO]

Nullsoft was just a legal entity and means pretty much nothing now (as has been the case for a long time).

and it's been clear that AOL was shifting towards advertising aspects for a long time which the likes of Winamp / SHOUTcast / Spinner (which was off comparable heritage) and other things that were killed off / dropped around the same time just didn't fit into the strategy that was being worked on (you can only throw away money for so long before you need to make changes to resolve that issue - as was done).


as for the hypothetical question, if they were still under AOL, by now they'd have likely gotten more adverts into things and I really don't think the likes of Verizon would have any qualms in dropping / killing off little brands and products. or they'd more likely go the other way and requiring payment for everything (as seems to be the way with most of the US telecoms providers).

not that it really matters now as the AOL ship has long since left port.


now the AIM question is more important than the Winamp position due to being a much more used service (though that itself is open to debate depending on how you're looking at what constitutes usage). though it's not like similar services (MSN) haven't seen them being retired, so maybe AIM will go the same way as well... and we instead all use Facebook Messenger *shudders*

[Dachip]

Dang, so many companies buying other companies. The future really is just going to be one mega-corporation that owns all!

[Aminifu]

And one global government that sees (i.e. spies on) and tries to control everyone. One of the good things about being my age is that I probably won't live long enough to be subjugated by it.

[musicf8]

Oh Come on Aminifu, you never just relaxed and stared at a fire thinking of yesteryear? I assume it will be like that, sit back, watch everything burn, and think of the good ol' days

[dJivad]

And now Verizon bought Yahoo. Back in the day, it was AOL vs. Yahoo. Now they're siblings. Or gay married. Or something.

Is Verizon getting too big?

[musicf8]

Is Verizon getting too big?

I don't think so because in terms of advertising I believe Google still has the upper hand