At one point, the way to get online was with AOL. It cost multiple dollars a minute to get the privilege of watching graphics download excruciatingly slowly. You could do a lot of stuff, like email, news groups, and download software. Exciting. Then came instant messaging. Then the internet was everywhere in web form and IM was released for free to everybody on the net. It went downhill from there.
Now almost no one uses AOL except for a few stubborn people, and maybe your grandmother. I can’t lump her in with those other people. I hear she makes cookies that come all melty out of the oven. AOL isn’t dead yet and AOL Desktop 1.0 is ready for users of the service. This might be just too little, too late. By “too late” I mean five years too late. Well, your grandmother might like it. I doubt the stubborn people will.
AOL is lot like USS Constitution in Boston. The wooden sail warship is a wooden relic from the 19th century and yet it is officially registered with US Navy as an active commissioned vessel. AOL is still around as an reminder of how it was once popularly used to get people on the net easily.
It's so sad... My parents (ergo me) are still on AOL. But I have to admit, I might just give this a try.