Microsoft/AOL deal - bad news for Apple?

S

slightly

Registered
It seems like the $750 million "settlement" between Microsoft and AOL is going to hit Apple in a number of ways.

First, it makes it practically certain that AOL will retain IE for its subscriber base, pretty much signalling the death knell for Netscape. This decrease in browser competition will increase Microsoft's dominance over internet standards. Bad news for everybody except Microsoft.

Second, MS is in a better position to push its WMF video/audio system onto AOL users, reducing AOL's use of Real and Apple Quicktime for streamed content. Since AOL now has the entire Time Warner content, this would be a massive switch to a format with much less cross-platform compatibility - in other words, a format better suited to Windows than to any other OS.

Doesn't sound like much of a "penalty" for Microsoft.

Matt
 
I have an old AOL account, but I hardly eveer use it now. So it doesn't make that much difference. I don't ever use IE, the only reason I still have it installed is for testing web sites that I have designed, and for viewing WM files (I didn't install that until yesterday, wish I hadn't now :()
 
Apple had apparently inked a deal with AOL for them use iTunes as their default music player, and the iTunes Music Store. This deal sounds like it nixes the Apple one, as Microsoft would never sit for Apple controlling audio content/encoding standards on the worlds largest subcriber base.

Maybe AOL will spin off Netscape. It seems ridiculous to keep the company, since they have zero interest in any of it's products, and really only wanted it for the web portal.

Either way, Mozilla will survive and continue to lure users away from the Microsoft matrix...
 
OK people, relax...
the deal ALLOWS AOL|TW to use MS technology. It does not in any way require them to use it, nor does it penalize them for NOT using it.
 
[wishful thinking]Microsoft and AOL/TW should merge into one company so the DOJ can smack them around for monopoly.[/wishful thinking]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top