People at work call me Captain Beta because I'm always willing to download beta software and give it a run. So when I heard that AOL had started a public beta of their new version of AIM, now named Triton, I thought I'd give it a try.
To put it succinctly, it's about as pretty or useful as a cat's ass. I understand it's only a beta, but lately, the beta software I've used has been really rock solid. This is flakey, the UI sucks, and nothing's where you'd expect to be.
You start your computer and it sits in your tray. Right click on the tray icon and say "Connect to AOL Network" and it does....something...but you never see your buddy window. So I double-clicked on it, which did...nothing. So I find the icon for the software on my desktop and double-click it. Hey look, I have to log in again. WTF? I log in again, and the buddy list (I hate that phrase) extends from top to bottom. It looks horrible, and it's still got those ugly ads at top. MAKE THOSE GO AWAY PLEASE!
I try to get the buddy list to hide in the tray now, but uhm, it won't. Minimize just minimizes it, and when I click close it disconnects. That's frustrating, because it doesn't feel like they've got someone who's really using the app building the use cases.
Also, trying to turn off sounds doesn't seem to work. I turned them off and restarted AIM and I'm still hearing the open door/shut door crap, etc.
I do like how the new chat window looks (quasi-Mac OS X), and it looks like they're supporting ClearType fonts now, so that's cool, but the window layout and widgets still bad. They need help with UI design, they need a usability expert, and they need both bad.
I haven't had a chance to use any of the other features yet, like reporting AIM spam, or voice chat, so I can't speak to the quality of those services. I have no need for AIM spam since I only let people on my buddy list contact me, precisely because of AIM bots offering to suck the chrome off my knob every few minutes. I viewed it as a big annoyance with AIM that it was so easy for someone to build those spamming chatbots, so I am happy to see that they've provided a service for people to register formal complaints.
I guess my anger is more related to the fact that most common tasks and windows everyone uses seem so broken. They really should focus on making the essentials as solid as possible before trying to add all this other window-dressing. You know the old saying "You can't polish a turd"? That's what these extra features feel like. Or more appropriately, you can't really dress up a cat's ass. No matter how much makeup you put on it.
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