Curmudgeonly,View,AOL,Internet DIY A Curmudgeonly View on AOL

When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in

Internetworld Spring 2002 in Los Angeles is Sponsored by AOL,a company that markets it's service with the slogan, "It's soeasy! No wonder it's number one!" One wonders what that companywould get out of the crowd that is clearly not interested inthe easy stuff. These are all high tech geeks who work withmore odd acronyms than any one person needs to know. Thecompanies represented by the drones who toil away insidethem see software solutions as a gateway to network infra-structure to implement cross enterprise knowledge managementwithin the structure of their data center while tying currentapplications through XML data feeds in the backend. But AOL is for my mom and your grandmother. People who bothneed to be told, "You've got mail!" before they'll check it.But here is AOL anyway, with a eighteen foot high bulgingballoon that looks like a computer monitor bouncing aroundin front of the convention center doors like a giant Billy-Bounce kiddy-diversion found at a state fair. Maybe theybelieve that busy mommies will be driving by on busy Picoand Figueroa Streets with a carful of kiddies that will seetheir Billy-Bounce out front of the convention center. Orit's possible that those who work with ECRM applicationsduring the day, go home to AOL connections each evening.I suppose it's possible that call center and salesforceautomation software implementation might drive one to preferAOL. Managers struggle every day to get their employees to USEthat multi-million dollar eCRM software application in theirwork until they can no longer stand the appearance of thatcustomized GUI at which they stare endlessly. So, it's hometo AOL! Naaaahhhhh!Where is the mainstream at internet shows? Where's that guyfrom the Circuit City commercial who runs from the house inhis slippers and bathrobe yelling excitedly, "BROADBAAAAAAND!"His family stares in disbelief at his excited plans for highspeed internet? Where is that likeable guy who searches theweb using his default browser, set with default settings,viewing things that can't be faulted when his wife asks him,"I thought you were surfing the web?" He responds, dumb-founded with, "I finished it." (a rather implausible ad forDSL). It sometimes seems that the internet is made exclusively forenterprise-level IT drones who say to their co-Dilbert,"Six million dollars worth of pure strategic thinking . . .but given our current technology, is it implementable?, No?" Unless you think the web is for mommies who don't know ifthey have email until their computer tells them, "You'vegot mail!," you've got to believe that there are worthwhiletools for the rest of us availalble. The huge middle groundis not made up of those IT geeks OR the busy mommy. It ismade up of a vast sea of entrepreneurs, consultants,writers, freelancers, professionals running onlinebusinesses and other small business people who usethe web extensively. Nobody from venture capital fundedstart-ups purposely seeks out that hard to reach audienceunless they can do it through office superstores or giantwarehouse outlets. Are there any folks out there who just have a middle levelinterest, run a small business online and don't sound likethey are spelling everything when discussing businessapplications? CRM, ROI, ERP, J2EE , XML and even SOAPare on the tongues of corporate suits. Are the rest ofus lost and wandering aimlessly through InternetWorld,sponsored by AOL and wondering what those letters are for?Is the internet made up of either web services of interestonly to corporate CTO's OR pointless chatter from littleprepubescent girls to their best friend via AOL InstantMessenger? The mainstream is missing here. That is clearly part of theodd atmosphere at web conferences as vendors hawk their waresfrom fancy show booths . . . and to whom? To the enterprise,stupid! (Someone should tell AOL that there were noprepubescent girls attending this show.)Soon even those using AOL will be able to accomplish all thisstuff without their browser telling them, "You've got mail!"Maybe they'll want a colorful graphic to click on, but AOLusers may not have to be told, "Here's your latest bankstatement!" or "You've got to pay your insurance premium!"or "It's time for Spot to get his rabies shots!" AOL users understand that the world is available online,even if that knowledge comes through their sign-on screenand clicking on the little blue "Yes" button rather thansimply visiting those web sites themselves to take care ofbusiness or look up things directly. I think it may be theimmediacy that works best for AOL, that you know you havean email because AOL 7.0 tells you that you do. Theimmediacy of AOL instant messenger (dubbed AIM) is whatmakes that service so compelling for their users.To AOL users that may take offense at my comments, I mustfirst ask them if they know that most of the rest of theworld uses a local cable company or independent serviceprovider to access the web through something called abrowser (software) and not through the "New! AOL version7.0" junkmail CD they receive weekly in their mailbox. Oh, and they'll never make a movie around XML or EDI,even if they could get Meg Ryan to star in it. Maybe ifthey could make the movie seats CRM compliant. Naaahhh."You've got user analytics data!" Wouldn't work.