Propeller to Air Traffic Control: We’re Going Down!

For Immediate Release: 

To: Tom Drapeau and AOL Executives

From: Allen Stern

Please accept this notice of my disappointment in the launch today of your Propeller product. Before I get into my concerns and issues with Propeller, I want to say that I have been quite loyal to AOL since I started using the product in 1990-1991. I still have the same email as I had then and have stuck with you through thick and thin. My first AOL bill was $450.00 and I never burned one of those thousands of spam CDs I received in the mail over the years.

When you guys allowed Jason Calacanis to talk you into changing Netscape into a social news rating service, I gave you a chance. Even when others called you a clone of Digg, I stood by you. Even when Jason ran away from the drowning ship and left everyone else to drown and die, I still offered suggestions for improvement.

When Techcrunch writers believed that the site was going to close and Tom Drapeau said it wasn’t closing, I offered Tom an interview to air his side of what was going on and coming up.

When the announcement came out that the name was changing to Propeller, many bloggers said it had already failed. I stood strong against Duncan for example and said let’s give AOL/Propeller a chance. Even when Robert Seidman told me I was basically a moron for even thinking you could offer something innovative, I told him let’s wait and see. I did note one important thing which is that you should absolutely not put up the same site just on a new domain.

Yet today I see you launched (or is it re-launched?) the Netscape site on Propeller with just a change of logo. Not one change. Now Tom talks about upcoming changes on the blog, but why not hold back on a launch and wait until the changes are ready? A bad first date means no second date my friend.

Marshall and Netscape scout Muhammad say there is more coming, but is it too late? Why was the change so critical to make today? Was someone upstairs in HQ looking for the Netscape.com domain to be switched asap?

I am disappointed with your decision and while I will continue to use the AOL product, I will never again stand up as a Propeller/Netscape defender.

I guess I shouldn’t have expected more from a company who gave out a CD case to the TechCrunch audeince where almost everyone has an iPhone or iPod.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Allen Stern