An article at C|Net’s News.com reported that America Online and Microsoft have made peace with each other… for now. Here’s a snippet of the article:
Key elements of the pact and its ramifications include AOL receiving a long-term, nonexclusive license to use Microsoft’s Windows Media 9 software and a seven-year, royalty-free license to continue using Internet Explorer on its flagship online service.
No wonder AOL-Time Warner is floundering… they’re retarded! AOL 7.0 for Mac OS X uses Gecko. So does the Netscape Browser, and CompuServe 7.0… all of which are controlled by AOL.
They will also begin using an integrated Windows Media Player instead of an integrated Winamp player that is developed by Nullsoft, another company owned by AOL.
If AOL keeps this up, they will ultimately lose to Microsoft. AOL keeps buying up technology, then not using or promoting it. They need to kill off CompuServe. They need to integrate AIM and ICQ into a single messenger. They need to promote and use the Netscape Gecko™ web rendering engine for everything. They need to make AOL stop sucking. Is it really better with the butterfly? How ’bout the little yellow running man? If AOL won’t compete, then they’ll look like Mike Tyson did in his last fight… terrible.
