Rou

Is there even a market for these things anymore? I mean, I would suppose someone would have looked into it at some point. I mean, there is no way they’d keep doing it if they didn’t get results from it.

Even AOL isn’t dumb enough to keep sending out free software CDs if they didn’t get enough response. Right? I mean, I understand the late 90’s. Even up through 2002 or so. But at this point, it would seem to me that they must be facing diminishing returns here. Even with 5 million free hours, a 6 month trial, a Yiddish goat that sings Christmas carols and a hooka that creates stardust and dreams!

Quite frankly, I’m sick of getting them. But I was sick of getting them about the time I got my first one, so that’s not really the point. Really what I’m annoyed at is that they’ve never really tried to reinvent their business model. They still prey on the poor and computer ignorant. In an age of broadband, they fight to keep dialup alive. The still send out these discs, covered in lies and misrepresentations, in the hope of catching a few more suckers.

To be honest, it offends me that this company continues to be one of the leading faces of the internet. Shameful. Even beyond the crap I have to deal with coming from their network on a professional basis, their entire business model should offend anyone who sees the internet as a powerful force in the global world.

As I said though, I would have thought they were starting to run out of the uninformed. Or at least, most of the uninformed would have friends and family smart enough to warn them by this point.

I just don’t see how these CDs can still be effective. They must be, but damn… I am incredulous.