I remember when AOL first began

[DCT Jared Smith]

Dear Steve Case:

I remember when AOL first began. I remember reading your personal e-mails to
your earliest subscribers. I recommended your company to a few friends, and
then quit doing so several years ago, for the following reason:

Trying to make my website readable in all browsers, I recently installed
Netscape 4.79, thinking I would get a bare-bones browser from the 1990s,
with maybe a few enhancements. Instead, I got the whole AOL experience:

Via this installation, America Online dropped seven links onto my desktop,
two links into my QuickLaunch bar, one link into my System Tray, several
links into my Start Menu, a handful of links strewn throughout my Internet
Explorer favorites section, it installed RealPlayer (which is known for
tracking users) without asking,
somehow I've got a cookie to AOL without ever going to your site, and there
are at least three advertisements you've dropped onto my computer.

All of this without asking, under the guise of a simple Netscape
installation.

In 14 years of Internet experience, AOL still has the record for being the
single most intrusive software I ever installed. Makes Microsoft look like a
friend. What's up with that?

Please reconsider your policy of taking over your user's computers. Some of
us do not want to track down every little AOL particle and remove it, simply
because we made the mistake of installing Netscape 4.79. I have found this
to be the case with anything remotely related to AOL.

Perhaps you are unaware of this. You have created a class of users who will
never use your software, and will recommend to anyone who asks us... to go
elsewhere.

I am sorry that you bought Netscape. Please fix it, or write back and
explain why you do this. If you want to buy Red Hat, you've simply got to be
more humble.

-Jared