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AOL users offered Linux link-up (vnunet)

[Posted August 27, 2004 by cook]

Vnunet reports on Linspire's continuing efforts to push the Linux desktop into the mainstream by adding dial-up service to ISP giant AOL. ""We've expressed to AOL that America Online dial-up support is the number one request we get from users and original equipment manufacturers, but they have yet to release anything," said Michael Robertson, chief executive officer of Linspire, in a statement. "We decided to build an open source dialler on our own, so the massive AOL customer base can now use a low-cost Linux computer with their AOL accounts.""

(Log in to post comments)

Posted Aug 27, 2004 19:59 UTC (Fri) by dmantione (guest, #4640) [Link]

Ok, the man only likes Linux because it is like free beer. Ok, his style of
business is to harass the big guys.

But, credit is there where credit belongs, the man is a damn good ally to push
Linux onto a desktop near you.

AOL users offered Linux link-up (vnunet)

Posted Aug 27, 2004 20:33 UTC (Fri) by xorbe (subscriber, #3165) [Link]

I'm not saying that guy is good or bad, but it has struck me that he gets the idea of running a business, regardless.

AOL users offered Linux link-up (vnunet)

Posted Aug 27, 2004 21:21 UTC (Fri) by ccchips (guest, #3222) [Link]

Didn't AOL whack some open-source developers for doing this before?

I will never use AOL, unkess I'm forced to.

AOL users offered Linux link-up (vnunet)

Posted Aug 27, 2004 22:35 UTC (Fri) by foobly (guest, #24317) [Link]

It is very questionable whether he knows anything about running a business. He has yet to run a business which ever made a single penny in profit. At mp3.com he got them sued beyond repair and crashed the company and while on the verge of bankruptcy had to sell to Vivendi who them ran into their own financial problems (due to investing in poorly run companies like MP3).

AOL users offered Linuxlink-up (vnunet)

Posted Aug 28, 2004 12:48 UTC (Sat) by Duncan (guest, #6647) [Link]

The key words I see there are "open source", implying that source is
available and other distributions could soon be offering this as well (of
course, depending on what specific "open source" license it uses).

Like most good geeks, I don't think I'll ever see the need to use AOL
(spit) myself. However, I /could/ see some of my non-geek friends finding
it easier to go Linux, since some use AOL, and can now use the same
account on their new Linux computer as they did on their MSWormOS one.

Duncan

Linspire only did a front-end

Posted Aug 28, 2004 16:37 UTC (Sat) by BrucePerens (guest, #2510) [Link]

Note that this is just a front-end to the "penggy" program, an Open Source AOL dialer not developed by Linspire as far as I'm aware.

Bruce

AOL users offered Linux link-up (vnunet)

Posted Sep 1, 2004 22:25 UTC (Wed) by Baylink (subscriber, #755) [Link]

From what *I* can see, this is a dialup PPPoE encapsulator, to allow you to utilize AOL *dialup* connectivity using the standard TCP applications on your Linux box.

If he thinks this will solve the problem, he doesn't understand the market.

There *was* a couple years ago, a port of the AOL 5 (or maybe 6) client to Linux that leaked out the back door, and reportedly actually still works, but while I saved it, I can't find it anymore, and don't recall the filename.

I ran it; it worked.