Page 41 - Aol News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> the aol-time warner merger was the classic dotcom insanity. >> $160 billion. the biggest corporate takeover ever. >> this merger will launch the next internet revolution. >> the merger of time warner and aol wasn't really a merger. it was a purchase. >> i am struck by this image today of the upstart aol gobbling up this media institution time warner. shouldn't it be the other way >> well, it's sort of startling that a company that couldn't even buy beer is now buying one of the oldest media companies in the country that took a century to get this big. >> we're just scratching the surface in...

>> we know there's a lot of pain to go around in terms of the stock market these days but aol stock's gotten beaten down even more than the rest of the market. >> aol and time warner was probably the worst deal in history. >> aol didn't really control the internet in the way they claimed to. >> everything is a lot easier and the internet is a lot more user-friendly. the internet moved to what aol was doing, so now what is aol's unique selling point and are you going to pay $23.95 a month extra for that? >> i feel like my retirement's going up in smoke as we talk here. >> the web was skyrocketi...

>> you were using text to have a conversation that felt like a face to face communication. you could see the start of this new online culture. >> it's a technological revolution that's changing the way we do everything, from making friends to falling in love. >> he was nice and he never gave me any of the come-on lines. it was always friendly. >> wait, you're telling me guys use pickup lines on a computer? >> uh-huh. >> as the internet grows, i'm finding information. i also want to find love. >> i just happened to stumble on michael's address. i picked him out of the blue. i read his profile, ...

Communicate with just about anyone anywhere. >> one of the things that aol realizes is that america online can't be all 200 plus million people at once. you need little neighborhoods. so chat rooms become internet neighborhoods where people who share interests create their own little space. >> you can either click on the chat button up here or go to the people connection. that's what america online calls it. and when you get there, click on a list of rooms to find different categories of rooms. >> when i was a kid, i didn't know any other black gay people. the only people that i knew were the ...

Per se. you use your phone line and your computer, and you get online. >> and compuserve was for the tech savvy people. prodigy was for shopping and aol was the first one that had a vision to get everyone connected. >> when i heard that sound, i cried a little bit because i knew there was a big adventure waiting for me. >> welcome. you've got mail. >> compuserve charged by the minute. it was like a taxicab. aol's invention was to forget that and charge $19.95 a month, all you can eat. and that changed everything because now you could afford to be on the internet all you wanted. >> you didn't h...