It's happening - AOL jumps into free e-mail business
 

It was discussed before, but it's happening now. Read about it here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7808436/


Excerp:

AOL jumps into free e-mail business
Accounts come with storage comparable with Google's Gmail
The Associated Press
Updated: 7:27 p.m. ET May 10, 2005

NEW YORK - Its subscription business in decline, America Online Inc. is launching yet another product on the open Web: a free, ad-supported e-mail service tied to its instant-messaging platform.

Users of AOL Instant Messenger will be able to send and receive mail with "aim.com" addresses using their existing AIM screen names.

Initially, users will need the latest version of AIM software, available as a "beta" test download for Windows computers beginning Wednesday. Ultimately, they'll be able to send and receive mail from any Web browser.

Each account comes with 2 gigabytes of storage — comparable with Google Inc.'s Gmail and more generous than the free offerings from Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s Hotmail and even AOL's flagship subscription service.

And unlike AOL's main accounts, which keep new messages for 27 days and messages already read for up to a week unless users actively save them, AIM mail never expires.

"And unlike AOL's main accounts, which keep new messages for 27 days and messages already read for up to a week unless users actively save them"

GAH! Don't remind me about this. :-D

It looks like the bit you need isn't AIM but the "AOL Browser" which seems to be based on Netscape 8 browser.

That has a tab for mail, which says "Coming Soon." It also has tabs for channels, but for most you have to be an AOL member.

Looks like AOL has evaluated it's strengths and decided the vast AIM population is it. So they force the install their own browser with the new AIM 5.9 and add lots of other bits -- spyware protection, desktop search by copernic and so on -- and hope to get market share by driving AIM users to AOL content, which is their other strength.

I like Firefox. I hate AOL, since it assumes I am a fool. My country is set to Canada, so I can't get to the basic AIM page with AOL. Instead, I am shoved to AIM.ca and offered 5.5. But Firefox goes where I tell it rather than treating me like an AOL user.

Well, I'll keep using Trillian, and look at the mail. I still check my old Netscape.net addresses with Mailwasher, though I gave up on Netscape 7.2 as a mail client. I doubt, though, that AIM.COM mail will be accessible though a client, as Gmail is. Maybe the pressure will be on, and AOL does have IMAP capability on their AOL.COM accounts (after the TimeWarner people who had to use AOL mail were clear that some jerrybuilt client wasn't enough), so they could -- if they want.

not only that, but I chose my AIM username in a fit of temporary (?) insanity and hate it now :D ..and don't have the energy to come up with a new one...so no go for me...

I still remember there was someone that kept asking for free AOL email. Looks like the wait is over for him.

betanews is reporting it will have free imap!
http://www.betanews.com/article/AOL_...AIM/1115785572

AOL IMAP is done AOL's way. . .

It's not real.

But then again, Gmail POP3 is done Google's way.

Here's the tour for AIM Mail:

http://www.aol.com/tour/mail/wsr.adp

http://www.aim.com/aim_mail.adp

And you might try this. . . . . .

http://m03.webmail.aol.com/default.aspx


(but no so much on firefox.)

bloody taglines. . . .
(but at least one of my accounts had a five year old address book i had left on aol....)


can anyone get here and find the IMAP server name?

http://boards.aol.com/boards/brdlist.mbl?boardID=552300

Thanks, Kaptitsky, for the links. But, reading the FAQ (http://beta.aol.com/projects/aimmail/index.html?loc=3), I am not sure if this is the new mail system announced today. Firstly, they state that the storage quota is 250 MB and not 2 GB. About accessing your email, when asked if the mail is accessible using an email client, they say "AIM Mail is a web-based email service and is not accessible using email readers."

Anyway, the system seems good and fast using Internet Explorer. And messages goes out and in very fast too.

But I can't access it using Firefox (1.0.4, just released). After loging, when ending the load of the webmail, my Firefox is resetted, dissapearing from the screen (some cookie must be available, because, when accessing again, it remembers my username).

Yeah, but I think he just had to have one @aol.com. These free ones will be @aim.com.

AOL free 2 gb secure email account
 

AOL started offering free blogs service for non members (http://pc.channel.aol.com/aimblogs [aol.com]) and starting from tomorrow (May 11 2005) is offering 2 gb email for non members (http://www.aim.com/aim_mail.adp [aim.com]). Seems like this healthy competetion is a boon for the end users.

from the website - features offered include

Here's a summary of the features you will enjoy with AIM Mail:

• Industry-leading Spam and Anti-virus protection: Users of AIM Mail can rely on AIM to help keep their mail box free of junk mail and harmful viruses.

• 2 GB of mail storage: Users of AIM Mail can access their storage from any web-enabled computer. AIM Mail also comes with a search feature that makes it easy for users to find messages in their Inbox, Sent Mail, or Stored Mail.

• IMAP access: Users can get their AIM Mail through their favorite email application including MS Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, Mac and Eudora.

• Single Log-on: Users will only have to login once to use both AIM and AIM Mail. Once logged into AIM, they can check, read and send mail without having to login in again. They can also launch the e-mail service from the AIM Buddy List or the Mail panel in the AIM Today welcome screen.

• Integration of AIM Presence: The Running Man icon appears in the e-mail headers if a sender or cc-ed recipient is logged in to AOL or AIM. This allows users to see when friends and colleagues are online and enables them to easily respond via e-mail or IM.

• Unsend Message: Users can cancel and unsend a message after it's been sent to another AOL or AIM Mail user if the message has not been read. Users can also check the status of a message sent to an AOL or AIM user and confirm if and when the message has been read.

• Plus, many other features, including: Enhanced spell-checking, auto-addressing, rich-text formatting, message signatures and more!

I was just reading their announcement, and I noticed this:
This is horrible. :mad: What this essentially does is allow a user to reach into another person's inbox and delete a message! Yeah they sent the email but it's not their mailbox. This should set off major privacy alarms. And this has the capability to be exploited (through a bug in either AIM or AIM's browser engine, which is the same as IE's) where a malicious user can gain access to everything in somebody else's mailbox.

It's a feature they've always had on AOL.

Not really: it allows the sender to intercept HIS message on the AOL server, BEFORE it reaches the recipient Inbox. Once it's in the Inbox - the sender doesn't have any control.

I get a different interpretation of how it works. It sounds like, even after the message is received, it can be cancelled if it hasn't been read yet. It probably doesn't take more than a few seconds to reach the inbox when it's from/to an AOL user. That would really bother me, a lot, because I may see a message in my inbox and see who it's from but am not ready to read it right away. Sure wouldn't want to wonder what it said when I see it gone...

Sherry

Well, there are some missing words there. If you said "even after the message is received BY THE SERVER, it can be cancelled if it hasn't been DOWNLOADED AND read yet" - the comment would be correct.
The words in CAPITALS are my additions.

That's not what it says. It says, "Users can cancel and unsend a message after it's been sent to another AOL or AIM Mail user if the message has not been read." It doesn't say that users can cancel or unsend if the message has not yet been *delivered* but if it had not beeen *read.* In other words, this means even if a message has been delivered, but the recepient has not yet read it (i.e. the message is sitting in their mailbox as a "new" message), the sender can delete it.

Ok, the only way I can see this working is:

Someone sends an email to another AOL user. That mail is available right away however if the person hasn't logged into their account for say 6 hours then they do not know they even have a new email. During that 6 hour period the sender could cancel the email. If a receiver of the email logs in, one minute after the sender has sent it, and sees they have a new email then it can't be cancelled.

Based on that idea, it doesn't really have anything to do with actually reading the mail but whether or not the receiver has seen they have new mail???

Sherry

I think that what Sherry explained above, is the way it basically works. Which is what I also meant above - If it was seen by the recipient (read or not), it was either downloaded or viewed on the server. At this point it can not be retracted.
If it can be "unsent" that means it has not been downloaded/viewed by the recipient.
So let's think for a second: if it "has not been downloaded/viewed by the recipient" where is the message? On the server!
The way AOL explains it is geared to the lay reader who will be thrown of balance with terms like Server. The mere fact that they use the word "unsend" proves the point. What is Unsend? It means erased from the served before it was accessed by the recipient. There is no other logical meaning to that word.

Yes it's on the server, but it's in the recepient's mailbox on the server, and as far as I am concerned, that ought to stop any tampering with that email - whether or not it has been accepted or read by the recepient. If I am the recepient, and a message is sitting in my mailbox ON THE SERVER - even though I have not downloaded or seen it - it's no one else's business to come in and delete it.

This is a philosophical question - at what point the email is yours (originator) as opposed to the receipient's. I agree with you: once you send it - it's their's. AOL thinks the other way - what you have not seen yet - is not yours.
My comments above were to clarify that the message AOL allowes you to Unsend is not in the receipient's Inbox when that happens.

Just for the record, Outlook with Exchange works the same way. You can delete mail you sent on the server BEFORE it has been delievered.

It was the most common metaphor for mail before the current internet model became the standard, and still is desirable for workgroup sized mail.

In this case, AOL has spent years making big server farms to support the way AOL mail works, which was defined in like 1983, and that's the way it works. Sure, I might want to copy a mail into a folder via IMAP, but that's not the way AOL has worked.

AOL is doing mail the AOL way.

No surprise.

I am trying to differentiate between *delivered* and *read*. Taking a snail mail metaphor, a piece of mail has been delivered the moment the mailman drops it in my mailbox. I read it when I open it. If the mail has never been delivered to me (dropped in my mailbox), I am fine with people retracting it. But once it is in my mailbox - online or offline - whether or not I have picked it up - or downloaded it, in email's case - or read it or have any intention of doing either, it's nobody's business but mine what I will do with it.

And yes it's a philosophical question, privacy matters often are. Nonetheless, it also has the potential for abuse if there is a security bug that allows a sender to not just delete one but more emails from the recepient's box. That is the secondary point, however, the primary point being that once a piece of mail is in my mailbox - on the server or on my machine - I consider it a blatant violation of my privacy for ANYONE to come in and delete it without my express knowledge and permission.

Since AOL has used this model since the early 1990's, the probability of any security breach is unlikely. It just doesn't work the way you suggest it does with people having access to your inbox, only that they have access to their mail, which is theirs until the reciepient opens it.

AOL mail sees the message delivered when you open it, not when it is first dropped in your in-box. Heck, these are people who are fine with deleting anything they consider SPAM with no chance of you being notfied, and who throw away new mail in your inbox if you don't check it soon enough.

This is AOL mail, folks, on AOL servers. Don't like it? Don't use it. I mean, there are so many reasons why this new AIM mail sucks, from the footer to the lack of header control and on and on. But to be fair it sucks in the same way AOL mail sucks, the same as Netscape.net, and all the other mails that use the proprietary AOL mail server sucks.

GMail is a new paradigm for a new millienium. This is 1990s tech with a cleaned up face on it. It works, more or less -- they are prolly the biggest mail system on earth, with the most traffic. But it ain't cutting edge.

If you feel this feature is an unacceptable breach of your privacy, use another mail provider.

That's probably a good idea anyway, come to think of it.

But saying "it could break and go bad" misses the point that AOL has years of experience with it and has made it work as well as they can.

(AOL is not CIS, though they bought them. The AOL mail only dates to the 90s, not the 1980s. Sorry for any confusion.)

(anyone got the IMAP server name yet? Anyone?)

Yeah I was wondering has anyone figured out the imap aspect of the new aol mail? Server name etc.

How do I use this new aol mail
 

Ok, I have a screen name with AIM (not a paid account with AOL) and I don't know how to use the service ~ how do I log into my mailbox?

Re: How do I use this new aol mail
 

Just tried it. Seems you have to download the latest AIM 5.9beta. Then you can reach the mailbox with some clicks.

Now I can go to http://mail.aol.com and sign in with my screen name. Can someone try if you can access without installing AIM?

Re: Re: How do I use this new aol mail
 

I also can login without install AIM.

here is another info. link after I login .
http://beta.aol.com/projects/aimmail/

I just logged in using the link above, and I don't even have AIM installed on my computer anymore.

Two questions
 

I also can log without installing AIM, using my old AIM screen name. But two questions remain:

1. How to verify what is the maximum storage quota available? I know how much space I am using, but I can't find a place where the total space available is displayed.

2. What name have the IMAP server? They comment this new webmail will have IMAP access (what about SMTP?), but, I cannot find, again, any place where this information is available.

Two days ago, with the same user interface and functionality, the FAQ stated there was not any other access than webmail system (http://beta.aol.com/projects/aimmail...?loc=3#readerq) and that the quota was 250 MB (look at http://m04.webmail.aol.com/Help/deta...receiving.aspx). This latest information have changed to 2 GB at the FAQ (http://beta.aol.com/projects/aimmail...ml?loc=3#sizeq).

The problem using Firefox 1.0.4 (resetting the application) have dissappeared, fortunately. But occassionally, using the webmail an error appears reporting not being able to access some strange help page file (http://m04.webmail.aol.com/help.aspx).

I loged in, saw a HUGE "Low mortgage rates" colorful, annoying ad, and made an instant decision: not for me!
Actually it reminded me why 10 years ago I left AOL, never to return...

Fortunately, all these adds are clearly traceable: I do not see any of them just modifying my hosts file (Windows) or using AdBlock with Firefox. In my case, all add space is just white space. :)

Extremely slow with my dialup connection, especially the compose window, which seemed like it took about 5 minutes to fully open. Rather sparse features and options. About the only thing "good" about it is the short, simple domain name. What a waste of a "good" domain name.

In short, I'm highly unimpressed. But then, it is AOL, so what did I expect?

on a non-technical note, it is very difficult to open an account with a username that's not already taken, or without having to append a glob of numbers at the end. Every conceivable permutation of my real name-- which is not very common-- is taken already, and I don't want to use the AIM ID I chose years ago. I'm picky about that sort of thing :D (edit)--and of course I know it's understandable given the size of AOL and the length of time it's been around. Still... did try it though, and xmailer is right: dial-up users, make yourself a sandwich and be prepared to wait :D

You can log-in without installing AIM 5.9. Simply go to:

http://beta-aim.webmail.aol.com/, which will redirect you to the appropriate mail server. In my case, it's server 3.

Cheers,
Doug

I was able to login at http://mail.aol.com/ , a link provided by pyedka in an earlier post in this thread, which is somewhat shorter and easier to remember. For anyone who actually wants to remember it, that is. :rolleyes: I'm not sure, but I think the only "need" for the AIM messenger is/was to receive some kind of initial alert from them when the beta email was "ready"...although it appears to be far from ready for serious use at this point.

Thanks dmehus and xmailer for the link. Has anyone got IMAP to work?

I know. There really needs to be an option to totally close the user names across the AOL and Netscape network and put it in a waiting period for someone else to register at some point in the future.. I don't need 2 mailboxes for each screen name (@aim.com and the same thing @netscape.net)

I do not suppose it supports imap
click below link and that state " Can I access AIM Mail using an email reader such as microsoft outlook".
It replys AIM mail is web-based only.

http://beta.aol.com/projects/aimmail/index.html?loc=3