AOL Gets A New CEO: Google’s Tim Armstrong

Ita Said:

AOL sucks.
Kylia Said:

Yes yes, and now 1000 comments about the dial-up sound and version 6.0 CDs as Christmas tree ornaments.But what was I thinking? AOL? Job? HA! Who needs one of those these days?/s
Emiko Said:

"AOL sucks" doesn’t begin to describe how badly AOL sucks. I don’t think I know the words needed to describe such suckery without being underwhelming. If only I knew a linguistic expert…
Xanti Said:

@defectDSUnless you do a REALLY half ass job, there’s no excuse for working at AOL. That’s basically the equivalent of being a Nazi Stormtrooper and saying "I was just following orders."
Zephan Said:

I’m a graphic & user interface designer for Bebo. I don’t think I’ll ever find a more enjoyable and perfect job.But whatever, i guess. I could be working part time down at Blockbuster or Starbucks like the rest of my age group. Anything’s better than AOL, right?/s again.
Fumiko Said:

Aol sucks because I have to use a proxy server to share my internet connection. Not that sharing dialup is very practical, but to use operating systems other than windows, then it’s the only choice… :/Plus who wants that bloated crapware installed on their day-to-day machine?But the real person who needs to go die in a fire is Embarq, for having tons of cow and horse pasture wired up and skipping a 400 feet section of my road right where my neighborhood is, which has a much higher population density. :/
Kevork Said:

@defectDSDon’t worry about the knee-jerk haters. A job is a job and AOL _does_ seem to pay above market for most positions. Course all that might change in the next round of layoffs.In other news, I cracked up seeing that the chief of Sales at Google is now the CEO at AOL. Does this mean he’ll try to sell AOL where others have failed? Or will he try to sell AOL services better than they’ve been doing all these years. Maybe now someone will think of marketing AOL as the travelers ISP – it’s everywhere you want to be. Sure it’s dialup but you’ll find that familiar modem shriek provided by AOL on every continent except Antarctica. At least it used to be that way – not sure how things are now.
Huntley Said:

AOL is still around?
Orane Said:

unfortunately my parents won’t let go. We have broadband too, but they don’t understand they can get better services for free elsewhere, and they don’t care to learn or use the things I set up for them on their computers.
Valley Said:

Evidently so… the question now is simply, why?
Timon Said:

Uh… AIM?
Huey Said:

Aim for what?
Kyan Said:

@onlynameAim for the crotch.
Viviano Said:

hehe… this is fun
Odell Said:

WHY would you leave Google for AOL?
Huslu Said:

Someone got fired?
Ida Said:

i thought they died with my dell Pentium 4
Dustin Said:

I said it on another article about this, but…Does this mean we have to start liking AOL?
Lindsay Said:

I remember the days when my modem used to take 2 minutes to log onto AOL (noises not included)
Bathsheba Said:

Man, those noises always gave my late-night porn sessions away.
Ugo Said:

truth…but I never got caught
Lina Said:

"troubled" is an understatement.
Aubrey Said:

As in… Google bought AOL?
Nellis Said:

It didn’t say that, only an idiot would take that message away from the article.
Phillipa Said:

It was just a quick assumption seeing as Google is piled high with cash.
Utah Said:

If anything, Google should buy Skype, not AOL.
Jovita Said:

how is AOL still in business? i haven’t been on that site since 2002, i guess they are sucking all their money from old people.
Symber Said:

I’ve told my stepdad numerous times he no longer needs to pay for AOL since we have local broadband but he does not get it no matter what I say.I even told him even if he cancels he still gets his e-mail and can still read it at AOL.com.
Vivian Said:

Well, you dugg a story yesterday on engadget who is owned by aol, so I guess they’re not relying on you going to aol.com anymore.
Humberto Said:

AOL suffered a lot of brand damage because of bad practices in the past, but it’s all new people now, new products. AIM, MapQuest, Truveo, TMZ.com, Engadget, Live 365, Winamp, and others. The dial-up is slowly fading off, as we’ve been encouraging them to move to broadband, but there’s still a solid customer base there.Current employees don’t like what AOL used to be either, and the company’s focus has changed to it’s products, advertising, and social networks.Randy Falco wasn’t a popular CEO, and he made many choices that the rest of the employees didn’t agree with, such as Bebo. So we’re all hopeful about this new guy.
Gunhilda Said:

My parents use AOL – quite sad when I get an email from @aol.com. I can’t believe people still pay to get an e-mail account, since they have broadband internet
Laine Said:

I think everything’s free now except dial up. It moved to an ad platform.
Frigg Said:

Funny thing, AOL always was revenue-based AND ad-based. Worst of both worlds.
Tvuna Said:

Wow…you try to sound superior to others and then you don’t realize that people have been able to get an AOL e-mail address without paying for it for YEARS now?
Walter Said:

Rancid’s frontman is becoming a CEO?
Kylia Said:

best comment I’ve read so far
Yazid Said:

Oh, that’s where I remember that name from
Nuha Said:

You have no idea how glad I am that I’m not the only person that immediately thought of that when reading this headline.
Yamin Said:

For real. I saw the headline and almost shat myself. I knew I couldn’t be the only person to think that.
Iduia Said:

Ha, I was thinking the same thing. This comment is full of win.
Hajari Said:

The boy’s a timebomb!
Metta Said:

Yeah, that’s exactly what I thought too!
Lahoma Said:

when will it finally die?
Zero Said:

I had a dream i was a vigilante side kick. my name is tim i’m a lesser known character.
Kyleigh Said:

Conflict of interest? I’m sure this CEO wold have some trade secrets?
Xaviere Said:

I wonder how much money it would take to get me to quit Google and start working for AOL………
Cybil Said:

Google’s worth dropped more in 2008 than AOL’s ever did.
Negeen Said:

Yeah, but my worth probably dropped a lot more than a street bum’s did last year too.
Field Said:

Movin on up! (movin on up!)…Isn’t the point to move up in life?
Ryland Said:

First act in office: Send more CDs
Chloe Said:

Coasters.It’s pronounced "Coasters."
Tuyet Said:

I’m an AOL employee and the business is very diversified. The division I work in is in no way associated with their old internet service. In fact, most of the company has nothing to do with that POS service (everyone makes fun of it). There are many parts of AOL that are doing a great job and raking in money like there’s no tomorrow (think Engadget). And then there are some total failures (think Bebo). The fact that the idiot who decided to blow $850 million in this economic environment on Bebo got canned is only a good thing.The concern is that the new CEO is just going to lob off whole divisions of the company in order to cut the bottom line. Hopefully that won’t happen.
Timandra Said:

I’ve always hated AOL. But your post was actually insightful . Thanks.
Derenik Said:

I don’t think many people would mind seeing the Bebo division get lobbed off.
Dwight Said:

"The concern is that the new CEO is just going to lob off whole divisions of the company in order to cut the bottom line. Hopefully that won’t happen."For the health of the company as a whole, hopefully that does happen. True, it would suck if the cut was the division you worked in, but in the long run, trimming fat is better than "pulling a GM".
Itachi Said:

his only market left is high school kids using aim OMGWTFAOL
Baback Said:

I’ve heard of a captain staying on a sinking ship, but I’ve never heard of a NEW captain boarding a sinking ship and riding it into the abyss of death. The only reason I could think a person would do this is because they want to see the eventual death throes from the inside.
Nafisa Said:

try "a whole lot of money"
Saber Said:

Or perhaps he sees an opportunity that you don’t? I mean, that could be the reason that he’s a high paid CEO, and you are not.Just sayin’.
Henley Said:

I remember when mostly everyone thought AOL was "the internet".
Giselle Said:

What the ***** does AOL even do anymore?
Wilmer Said:

Ads
Cybille Said:

So, Google has now infiltrated AOL.I predict a sale and liquidation of AOL within the next 6 months.
Nehemiah Said:

I think one of AOL’s biggest problem is simply name brand association. When you attach the AOL logo next to any service or product, it only has a negative effect on the under 50 crowd. It will be interesting to see what direction Tim Armstrong will take the company. I’m not an expert in this field, but I’m worried that the ad based revenue system will be harder to maintain in the coming months and years.
Yasuo Said:

Remember AOL isn’t the only brand it has. There are plenty of others with much more positive brand recognition.
Annabella Said:

Tim Armstrong? From Rancid???
Tiltilla Said:

I’m guessing they gave him a good package. Because AOL is a big pile of poo.What do you do with it? There are a lot of people still on dial up.. mostly broke hicks. AOL does own, the remains of Netscape. That includes firefox. AOL was or is attached to time warrner or did they divest of AOL. AOL still treats there low level employees like crap, so the only people who will work for them are new to the work force.I’m not sure what you can do with this company.the old walled garden approach to internet communications is long gone. I say strip out what little good is left of the company and shutter the place.
Helsa Said:

"AOL does own, the remains of Netscape. That includes firefox. "No, Mozilla Corporation is the closest thing that "own" Gecko/Mozilla/Firefox, but it’s open source. AOL owns Netscape, whose browser went open source and became Mozilla.
Ireland Said:

I AM one of those lower level employees. I work in a satellite office, not the main campus, but I’m treated like an equal and I get really great benefits. I’ve worked for some real schmucks before, but my whole team, my bosses and theirs above them, are all great people you can respect. We are a small team, one that brings in a lot of money, working with all AOL’s mobile offerings – sing AIM on your phone, truveo, mapquest, etc.
Chiquita Said:

AOL still exists? Probably %90 of what’s left are people who don’t realize they’re still for paying it. $23 a month for ***** dial u.They really need to change their name entirely. No one is going to sign up for AOL anything. Known for ***** service and ridiculous prices.
Idra Said:

I love all the "WTF does AOL do?" Comments.. I bet half you guys read engadget, use AIM, Winamp or shoutcast and maybe even mapquest or moviefone (the last two.. not so much)Point is, they still have their fingers in a lot of internet user’s lives.
Kylee Said:

MapQuest… it’s what we were forced to use before Google Maps.
Valley Said:

It’s also what kickstarted the whole mapping business online.
Baback Said:

Oh AOHell How you have littered by mailbox with shiny thingsFrom your humble beginnings as a game serverYou became a pseudo internet providerThanks to countless American housewivesCheer up AOL staff, soon enough you’ll be shaking hands with those other six million unfortunate jobless people. No worry, you will find a job soon enough, because you’ll have AOL on your resume.
Shoshanah Said:

It’s surprising how many people still coming into Geek Squad because they don’t know how to use AOL…I just facepalm and tell them to get a good ISP.
Derenik Said:

We’ll if he was dumb enough to leave Google for AOL, I’m guessing he did Google a favor.
Neha Said:

Hrm, maybe this guy will be smart enough to realize that AOL has to things left for it. AIM and name recognition, and use those two to expand the brand into strong areas. The "digg" intellectuals can harp on it all they want, but tons of people still use aol email, and TONS more use AIM… thats a pretty strong user base.
Rishi Said:

Layoffs a comin
Estrella Said:

Wow fist fronting punk band Rancid, then Google now AOL. Is there anything Tim Armstrong can’t do?
Orenthal Said:

fist fronting?

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