[thelist] AOL/netscape was:Netscape 6 loads page twice

[Aylard JA (James)]

Daniel J. Cody wrote:

> you ask what they have to gain, but instead point out things that they 
> would lose. Pointing to the licensing agreements with MS is a bad call 
> because everyone knows that they got forced into using IE so they could 
> get the icon on the desktop. You're defending Microsofts position of 
> blackmailing and intimidating AOL in this case.

	Whoa! Forced to use IE in order to get the AOL icon on the desktop??
To me, it is an *extremely* equitable deal -- in fact, a deal in AOL's favor
-- to get their icon on the Windows desktop in exchange for using IE (who
*wouldn't* take a deal like that??). So in return Microsoft gets increased
browser share -- but at this point in the browser war, I don't think
Microsoft gets as much out of that deal as AOL does.

> ...And, should AOL stay with the status-quo because people didn't 
> code pages correctly and it breaks standards complaince? The education 
> of the developer that wrote the pages should be represented as 
> 'ill-web-educated' not that of the user.

	AOL will be more concerned with increased customer support costs, I
suspect, than standards compliance (does *anything* AOL produces other than
Netscape 6 even make an attempt at standards compliance??). Fair or not,
users will assume that the *browser* is responsible for broken pages. And in
part, it is, because Netscape chose not to provide backwards-compatibility
in Netscape 6.

> Finally, you're ignoring the huge amount of people out here - myself 
> included - that don't use windows for an operating system.

	Actually, you're in the minority -- a small minority, I think. You
shouldn't feel any pressure to drop out of that minority and you should feel
free to expand that user base through every means possible. But don't expect
the average user to want to buy into something he or she finds confusing or
foreign. Most people tend toward what is comfortable and familiar -- and
right now, for most people, that is a Windows-based PC.
	Dan, I respect you a lot, but honestly you're arguing utopia in the
face of reality. AOL will make its decisions based on what's best for its
bottom line, and not based on sentiment. That's real life. That's business.
It's not blackmail.

James Aylard