AOL Accused of Cache Theft

From: Sharon Tucci <Sharon_at_listhost.net>
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 13:40:33 -0600 (CST)

Regarding the article at:
http://www.internetnews.com/isp-news/1999/01/1104-aol.html

The article is interesting, but it only scratches the
surface of the problem. Here are some random thoughts:

1. There are a number of third party software and web
solution vendors offering products that do not work properly
when accessed via AOL because of the caching.

2. Get a temporary AOL account and see if you can access all
of your pages properly. You might have a nasty surprise.

3. Sure, these solutions could be modified to avoid the
caching problem. But who should fit the bill for this?

Example: We use
<<http://www.software.com/>http://www.Software.com>
Post.Office Intermail Post.Office software for our mail
server. It's a widely used product and they have over 25
million mailboxes licensed. Clients using their mail server
include Excite, @home, Bellsouth.net, Ameritech and others
(just from looking at their home page).

One of the features of the software is a web-based interface
where a user needs to enter their email address on the
system and password to log on. Guess what? AOL dial-up
customers cannot use the interface without modifications.
(Note: they can still manage accounts via e-mail, but they
lose a good benefit of the software this way.)

4. There are so many different sites or online utilities
that can be (and are) affected by this. Unless you have such
a problem and know when to look for it, it can cause you to
waste time unnecessarily.

Example: Last week, we had a client who suddenly couldn't
access their email account on our server. After spending
about 2 hours on troubleshooting, it finally occured to me
that to ask if they were using AOL dial-up service. (The
client had recently moved and was using AOL during the
transition.)

Now, I can understand why AOL does this. I'm sure it saves
THEM a good deal of money... but at whose expense? As more
people find out about this and makes sure that their sites
or software is coded to avoid this problem, AOL will lose
the cost-saving benefit. I don't really see who benefits
from this in the long- term.

Sharon Tucci
http://www.ListHost.net - Email Newsletter Solutions


========================================================================
------------------------------------------------------------------------
       This week's Online Advertising Discussion List sponsors:
         ValueClick, Enterprise Interactive and eGroups.com

 ValueClick has cost-effective ad space available for *Smarter Buyers*
 -> Our Cost-per-Click model means risk-free Reach to over 10k websites!
 ValueClick Ad Network | 805.965.0543 | http://www.valueclick.com

                                ---

   CUSTOM CONTENT FOR YOUR SITE - articles, features, daily tips by
   Enterprise Interactive's team of writers, editors and marketers.
   peter@enterprise1.com, http://www.enterprise1.com, 203.838.9383

                                ---

 eGroups.com hosts e-mail discussion groups with over 2 million users.
 And you can precisely target them with e-mail advertising that really
 works. To reach opt-in, interested users, contact sales_at_egroups.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------
========================================================================
Online Advertising Discussion List To Unsubscribe send UNSUBSCRIBE
http://www.o-a.com/ to online-ads-request@o-a.com



Received on Wed Jan 13 1999 - 14:42:26 CST