I have been a fan of AIM, AOL Instant Messenger, since sometime before the year 2000. Even as other services, like Microsoft Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, and Skype, fragmented the market, I was a loyal AIM user. AIM is one of the most perfect bits of functional software ever created. It was something I missed when switching between OSes at various jobs, and I was thrilled to see a native version available on the iPhone. I paid the $4.99 (or whatever) for the ad-less version without a second thought.
And then they changed it.
Now it is one of the worst bits of software ever created. If you could take everything that is wrong with software–especially web software–and pack it into one little program, you’d get the new AIM.
Please undo this, AOL. Undo this for the people who kept the faith as you methodically consolidated a once-proud company into the now-diminutive aol.
Please.