Review: New AOL Desktop for Mac
I have to commend the team at AOL that have developed the new AOL Desktop for Mac. They have created an interesting all-in-one mail, messaging, and browsing experienced that is clearly been well thought out, and designed specifically for a great Mac experience.
The new AOL Web Bowser, which is based on Webkit and looks very similar to Safari, is the fastest browser I’ve ever used on my Mac. It beat out Safari and Firefox in tests on my Macbook Pro. I was shocked – to say the least.
The new Mail App looks very much like Apple Mail (with the notable exception of an extremely annoying banner ad at the bottom of the application.) It’s easy to use, and efficient. I won’t be switching to an AOL email account anytime soon because I have .Mac – but if you’re a current AOL user, or looking for a more desktop like experience with a web-based email address, you may want to give it a look.
The new AOL Messenger is a vast improvement. The last version of AIM on Mac that I tried was a jumbled mess that I couldn’t even use because of the constant advertising bombardment on it, but this new version is slick, lean, and has nice features like tabbed chat that make it very useable and friendly.
The software will work with Tiger or Leopard, and both Intel and PPC Macs. Its free, and a must-have for current AOL users. New users may want to give it a try as well. I was surprised by how much I liked it.
If you ever want to chat, you can find me under my AIM ID – applegazette
You can download the new AOL Desktop for Mac right here.
Comments
redwall_hp
May 6th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Why won’t LOL, er, AOL die already? I had the misfortune of using their dial-up service (on windows) for several years, and I managed to survive it by keeping it minimized, and using Firefox. Nowadays, I’m using the web the way it’s supposed to be used. DSL through my Wi-Fi router, with a shiny new MacBook for a computer.
Michael
May 6th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
@redwall_hp
I don’t think anyone is saying that AOL dial-up is a spectacular browsing experience – but that’s with any dail-up. They all have some kind of annoying bar they put on things. I hate dial-ups.
This is a new piece of software from AOL, by a team of Mac developers that did a good job. Two very different things,
bob
May 6th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Has anyone figured out how to manage cookies?
Jeffsters
May 6th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Why do we need another email and web application? Why couldn’t AOL finally become what Google is while focusing their efforts on a FULL parity AIM release?!?! I don’t need yet another browser nor another email client, especially one with ads. I’m also not going to trust my AOL mail to another AOL software with a shorter life span than milk. Sorry, I don’t see the need and I am still using the old AOL client because this is missing some key features of the old client and replicating what I already have with Safari and Apple Mail. They must be good programmers but their effort is wasted when it should have been put to making AIM on par with the Windows version. THAT would have made a difference in my life. This ads nothing I don’t already have.
Michael
May 6th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
@Jeffsters
What is this lacking that the old clients has that you need?
Chotty
May 7th, 2008 at 7:55 am
It is lacking Chat Rooms… making this entire software pkg a waste of time…
alpharao
May 8th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Have you tried AOL’s new chat destination site @ http://chat.aim.com. It is web based and has audio and video capabilities. You can then leave your AOL client behind
chris
May 8th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
I finally upgraded to this last night and it is TERRIBLE. Slower. Every time I send an email I get a message sent window THAT CONTAINS A F$#@ING AD IN IT!!
Been using aol out of habit since 1995. This is it – I’m switching to Gmail as soon as I can figure out how to not lose my address book!
Greg’s Mind » Blog Archive » AOL on Desktop for the Mac
May 12th, 2008 at 10:35 am
[...] far the reviews have been very good for this application, so if you are a long time AOL user on the Mac check out the latest [...]
kub
May 12th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
downloaded AOL desktop. After two days of nothing but hangs and probs, ditched it.
Since AOL keeps being the ONLY app I have among dozens of others, that keeps closing down and has no reliable stability, THAT … reliability … would have been the place to put the money in r and d.
As soon as I figure out how to change email to something reliable for mac, AOL will be gone. We’ve suffered with it for too many years.
I appreciate the folks who worked on the ‘desktop aol.’ But the focus was wrong.