NS 6.2 CCK REMOVE AOL ON DESKTOP
John
on CD. I previously used CCK 4.x and found it to be the most frustrating
experience of my life. Outside of a few webite FAQs, it was totally
unsupported and buggy. No one replied to my emails. Netscape links for
essential CCK downloads were broken.
Now I'm trying to distribute netscape 6.2, but Netscape foolishly believes
we will distribute a browser that blatantly advertises our competition by
putting AOL links on the desktop, start menu, and elsewhere. Despite CCK's
customizable nature, no authorized customization is given for removing the
AOL link.
I checked the CCK site, read their online manual, FAQ, etc.. but naturally,
there was no information on removing AOL and no one responded to my email to
their support team. Fortunately, thanks to some newsgroup help and a little
exploration of my own, I found a simple fix to remove AOL from the Desktop.
Delete or REM (;) the following lines in the CCK config.ini file:
[Component AOD]
Description Short=Aol On Desktop
;*** LOCALIZE ME BABY ***
Description Long=Aol On Desktop
Archive=aod.xpi
Install Size=480
Install Size System=1
Install Size Archive=98
Attributes=SELECTED|INVISIBLE
Parameter=
The problem is, it's not clear I'm licensed to make this change so I just
need Netscape to give me permission to make this adjustment. This should be
no big deal because one of their representatives (in a netscape newsgroup)
told me that they never intended the AOL on Desktop to be irreversable in
the first place. (Yeah, right...).
After I found this "fix" without any help from Netscape, their support team
finally emailed me back a sort of form letter. (see cut & past at bottom of
this post). Quote from their email to me "...Netscape will provide ISPs a
means to remove the AOL Icon on the Desktop. We will resolve this issue
within a month..." At the time I was very thankful. The month wait was a
lot to ask of a business trying to get a browser to its customers, but I
really didn't want to use IE so I decided to put some little faith in the
netscape support team despite their terrible track record.
Well, not surprisingly that month has come and gone with no further
communication from Netscape despite two or three emails from me asking them
why they haven't responded. Also, I explained TO THEM how to edit CCK to
remove the AOL on DESKTOP and I just asked for PERMISSION to do it. (This
kind of alteration, as explained above, is pretty basic).
#1. It's stupid to force AOL on ISPs distributing your desktop.
#2. It's stupid to expect an ISP to WAIT a month to fix what you agree
needs fixing.
#3. It's stupid not to response to emails sent by ISPs who you need on your
side so you can distribute your browser.
#4. It's extra extra stupid to claim you'll have a fix in a month and then
not do it.
I'm pissed off. This project has taken too much time and I've been jerked
around by Netscapes consistently crappy support team. I've put off our
customers an extra month now and it looks like it's all for nothing. Is it
any wonder Netscape is losing the browser share? I already did the work of
finding the fix to get rid of the AOL that shouldn't have been there in the
first place. Is it asking too much that Netscape take 30 seconds just to
email me and say, "OK, you have permission to make the change"? Is it even
a priority to them to get their browser distributed?
I hope this email isn't just one more way in which I'm wasting my time with
Netscape. I hope someone out there is listening. Although I'm no fan of
AOL, I want to support a product other than microsoft. Why is Netscape
sabatoging its own future?
Get with it, Netscape! As I've already invested my time creating a
customized CD with CCK, I will wait a little longer in hopes the NS 6.2 CCK
support team will respond, but after this post, I'm (very regretfully)
looking into IE distribution.
---------------------------------------------------------
( I RECEIVED THIS EMAIL ON NOV 29th, 2001)
Nscp Support wrote:
Dear CCK User,
Thanks for using CCK and providing feedback to the CCK newsgroup.
Unfortunately, we cannot reply to all the feedback we receive.
In this case, we wanted to send you a note to reassure you that Netscape
will provide ISPs a means to remove the AOL Icon on the Desktop. We
will resolve this issue within a month and promptly inform you of the
solution.
Sincerely,
The Netscape CCK Team
Albert
They changed the CCK image icon to 6.2.1, so that might be it. Have you
tried it? I haven't tried it yet so I can't say whether or not it is
6.2 or 6.21. It does seem to point to a 6.2 directory and not a 6.21
directory, so I don't know. Try it and let us know of the results.
Also, please do not crosspost to private and public groups. The Mozilla
browser group has nothing to do with the Netscape 6 CCK.
I am going to resubmit my feedback request on the CCK to Netscape. My
organization is already planning a rollout of Netscape 6 (moving away
from MSIE) and I don't want every user to have to deal with the minor
annoyance (but major for ISPs =)
--
Albert
"We must have a better word than 'prefabricated'. Why not 'ready-made'?"
--Winston Churchill
If sending email, remove the obvious spam-preventer from my email address.
John
me.
> They changed the CCK image icon to 6.2.1, so that might be it. Have you
> tried it? I haven't tried it yet so I can't say whether or not it is
> 6.2 or 6.21. It does seem to point to a 6.2 directory and not a 6.21
> directory, so I don't know. Try it and let us know of the results.
I'm sorry, but I'll too dull to understand to what you are referring. By
changing the CCK image icon I will resolve the AOL on desktop problem? I've
spent considerable time trying to determine that the 6.2 build was
acceptably stable. I'm not so willing to do jump into another version. I
already have the solution to the problem (thanks to you and others like
you). I just need the OK to do it. I doubt CCK will create a GUI function
in the CCK for disabling AOL on Desktop. This kind of customization is
usually addressed via some netscape URL.. fax, manual, etc.
Anyway, my employeer is really not willing to extend my deadline. We need
to get these CDs out. I've already stuck my neck out for netscape and my
boss isn't going to allow me to devote more time to testing and
experimenting with Netscape 6.2. However, I am looking into distributing
mozilla.
>
> Also, please do not crosspost to private and public groups. The Mozilla
> browser group has nothing to do with the Netscape 6 CCK.
I am sorry for the cross post, but I am also trying to solicite a response
from Netscape as well. I'll try not to do this again in the future.
> I am going to resubmit my feedback request on the CCK to Netscape. My
> organization is already planning a rollout of Netscape 6 (moving away
> from MSIE) and I don't want every user to have to deal with the minor
> annoyance (but major for ISPs =)
I appreciate your help, although despite you having helped me in my last
post, I'm not really sure who your organization is or with what authority
you speak. Either way, I hope you get a more frutiful response than I did.
Fulvio Perini
Try http://sillydog.org/narchive I never pay much attention to this
kind of stuff,but there a CCK without add-ons.I do not see any AOL stuff
in my 6.2.1
John
"Fulvio Perini" <fper...@softhome.net> wrote in message
news:3C334AE2...@softhome.net...
Albert
Oops, I meant on the CCK download page. I should've specified =]
Mozilla isn't a bad choice. The only difference is it doesn't have
nearly the same brand recognition that Netscape does. But, since you
have time constraints, it is perfectly understandable. Perhaps when 6.5
is released (it's looking like it has a lot of potential...) your
employer will redistribute with the newer, better version and Netscape
will have been able to clarify this issue for us.
Albert
Oh btw, I took a look at the CCK license agreement and it explicitly
denies changing any settings that are not configurable in the CCK. Of
course, the accompanying PDF manual in the CCK specifies some tweaks to
make to 6.2 for distribution that isn't in the CCK, so that's a bit of a
gray area.
My assumption would be since Netscape has indicated that they have had
feedback on this and are attempting to fix the situation, they would not
object if you distributed with the AOL icons disabled.
RJ
You might also check this out:
http://home.att.net/~cherokee67/nsinstallnoaim.html#noaim
--
Ramona
"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance."
John
Thanks for you answer to the previous post as well as this one. It was
above and beyond good samaratianism to go read the licenseing agreement.
I've been through that a number of times are you are right about the gray
area. There are a fair number of tweaks FROM netscape that outline changes
that can be made to the browser that do NOT fall under the license
agreement.
Your assumption is probably correct, but my employeer wants to be sure.
Anyway, despite netscape promising they would "promply inform me" of the
change, thanks to you and other in this newsgroup, I now realize there's a
newer CCK version to try which, supposedly, allows you to remove the AOL on
desktop feature.
Thanks for all your help.
"Albert" <garfie...@DIEMSFTDIEMailandNews.com> wrote in message
news:3C337993...@DIEMSFTDIEMailandNews.com...
John
to do.
John
After uninstalling CCK 6.2, I downloaded CCK 6.2.1 and did a fresh
install. I went through all the steps again for configuration rather than
try to use anything left over from 6.2.
According to the release notes for 6.2.1 (thanks Bob), to remove the AOL on
Desktop, I should have had an option to UNcheck a box at the last screen of
CCK, titled something like "create the installer." Well, they must have
forgotten to include the box because it's not there to check or uncheck.
Ya think they would have tested it, just ONCE before distributing it that
way. Oh well.
Thanks to all you guys that took the time to help.