Earlier this week I was helping a friend who uses Yahoo Calendar and was having issues with it. What I found was cause for concern. I did a little research using my existing Yahoo account which I do not use much anymore. Let me first start by saying that between Friday February 18 and Monday February 21 the calender that was in beta version for Yahoo was released as their new version. My friend had prior to February 18 converted from the older calendar version to the beta version and was having issues with the beta version. This past Friday that version was still in beta. With my Yahoo account I successfully converted my calendar to the beta version. I saw this disclaimer which led me to believe I could switch back if I was not satisfied with the beta version (see the disclaimer terms noted in 2). I switched to the beta version with the intent of switching back as there was nothing in the disclaimer to make me believe I could not switch. As a matter of fact,what was mentioned was what I would lose if I decided to switch back. However, when I tried switching back there was not a way for me to switch back. Upon further searching, I found a link that I cannot switch back to prior version. While I certainly do not think that Yahoo deliberately is setting up people to switch, I do feel that given the disclaimer I should have been able to switch back. With Yahoo Mail,one can choose from their current version, classic version and beta version switching as you see fit. Why can you not go between the old and new Yahoo calendar versions? I will add here that if you have had an existing Yahoo account, you are not presently required to switch to the new calendar. However if you were to now open up a new Yahoo account, you are given the new calendar version.
My concern is that there are likely others who made this switch but were not able to switch back. As I noted, in Yahoo mail you can go back and forth between 3 versions including the beta. Why not allow the same for their calendar especially in light of what I had mentioned? If anyone from Yahoo reads this and wishes to respond, I will publish their response. We all know Yahoo has been having issues as of late and has reduced staff. They should step up here. When I used their service on a more frequent basis, I was satisfied. I note that Google's email service and calendar surpassed them a while back. Their new calendar still does not have quite a few features that Google has but it is improved and I like the interface better than their previous calendar. I hope that Yahoo does the right thing and allows those who use the new Yahoo calendar to revert back to the previous version if they wish.
March 11, 2011
March 2, 2011
AOL
When many people first got a personal email account it was an America Online (AOL) one. Their browser was user friendly and the easy to navigate AOL features that were user friendly. We remember the old AOL CDs that were mailed out and in stores all over. There was the monthly subscription fee which enabled access to a dial up connection and all the other AOL features.
Today having an AOL email address is free. That is one of the changes that AOL has made over the years. Another change is they are no longer known as America Online but rather the initials AOL.
Like Gmail discussed in a previous blog, attachments are limited to 25mb. AOL however does have unlimited storage. There also is a filter for incoming emails that allows you to handle them in the manner you choose depending on the criteria that is set. You still have the option of playing a sound when new mail arrives. Some of us may remember "You've Got Mail" when there was a new message in your inbox. Well when you sign into your AOL account using the AOL browser, you still get that message when you have new email.
One of the better features of AOL mail is when replying to someone else's email you have the ability to highlight any text from the stream that you want to remain in your email that you are preparing, then click the "Reply" button. It will then automatically list the highlighted text, with a header on it in your email. You also have the ability to block email from specific addresses you specify. This filter can also be set to allow email from specific addresses as well.
I am not too comfortable with the interface of the Contacts List. For starters there is nowhere to input a website address. The contacts do not open quickly as well. The contacts can be found easily in AOL mail on the left hand side. When using the AOL browser it is not as easy. If you are not familiar using the AOL browser you may forget that it is in the "Mail" menu under "Address Book".
There is also no automatic save feature like there is when using Gmail. You need to click on "Save Draft" otherwise you could lose the email you are preparing should your computer freeze or another issue arises.
There are those who may like AOL with their own browser. It is not for everyone but those who have been using it for many years may feel comfortable with its familiarity.
Today having an AOL email address is free. That is one of the changes that AOL has made over the years. Another change is they are no longer known as America Online but rather the initials AOL.
Like Gmail discussed in a previous blog, attachments are limited to 25mb. AOL however does have unlimited storage. There also is a filter for incoming emails that allows you to handle them in the manner you choose depending on the criteria that is set. You still have the option of playing a sound when new mail arrives. Some of us may remember "You've Got Mail" when there was a new message in your inbox. Well when you sign into your AOL account using the AOL browser, you still get that message when you have new email.
One of the better features of AOL mail is when replying to someone else's email you have the ability to highlight any text from the stream that you want to remain in your email that you are preparing, then click the "Reply" button. It will then automatically list the highlighted text, with a header on it in your email. You also have the ability to block email from specific addresses you specify. This filter can also be set to allow email from specific addresses as well.
I am not too comfortable with the interface of the Contacts List. For starters there is nowhere to input a website address. The contacts do not open quickly as well. The contacts can be found easily in AOL mail on the left hand side. When using the AOL browser it is not as easy. If you are not familiar using the AOL browser you may forget that it is in the "Mail" menu under "Address Book".
There is also no automatic save feature like there is when using Gmail. You need to click on "Save Draft" otherwise you could lose the email you are preparing should your computer freeze or another issue arises.
There are those who may like AOL with their own browser. It is not for everyone but those who have been using it for many years may feel comfortable with its familiarity.
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