More AOL stuff…
August 4, 2005
Apparently, AOL bought xDrive too. Now they are really amassing quite the portfolio: search, mail, IM, blogs, pictures and now online storage. To top it all off, AOL already has a single sign-on infrastructure though the Screen Name system.
If AOL were able to create a rich client-side experience for all these services under their umbrella, then I’d really stand up and take notice. AOL Explorer is taking a few steps in this direction I think (notice the tabs on the side) and the old-school AOL stand-alone application would definitely be well suited for this.
So it looks like AOL and MSN are making the rich thick client experience while Y! and Google are sticking to providing what they can through a browser. IMO, I’ve always thought the power would be in providing a rich integrated experience through a browser (see the end of this post), but I guess we’ve got front row seats to see who wins 
Oh and how is it that when I search around the blogosphere, no one else has posted about the AOL/xDrive deal? I guess that’s why they’re the dark horse candidate 
August 4, 2005 at 10:49 pm
Wow, I had no idea xDrive was still around. I thought that whole business sector had sunk without trace years ago! Shows how easy it is to lose track of a business you’re no longer involved in!
August 5, 2005 at 10:46 am
I was going to blog about it but the fast folks at PaidContent.org hit it already — look at August 3, 2005. (Unfortunately, they haven’t figured out the whole “permalink” thing.)
August 5, 2005 at 2:50 pm
oooooooooh, i remember 1 time, in college, we had to use xdrive for database class. yah!!