As for the whole Microsoft/AOL/IE thingy, see the MozillaZine item for lots of links to lots of places.
My big question is, what does this mean for web developers? It looked like we were on the road towards there being more standard-compliant browsers, which would mean less goofy hacks and workarounds for buggy browsers, and it might still mean that, but it’s too early to tell. I agree that it would be stupid for AOL to kill off Netscape now, as it is they could take a small fraction of the $750 million and support Netscape/Mozilla development for years to come, even if it’s just for insurance against Microsoft, and honestly, doesn’t everyone need an insurance policy against Microsoft?
(I know, Mozilla the browser, and Mozilla the organization won’t just disappear if Netscape goes away or AOL jettisons it, but it would be nice to have AOL keep paying for some of it.)
I’ve noticed that on this site, Mozilla has been surpassing Internet Explorer in the stats lately, which I see as good thing. Though I admit with some other sites I’m involved with, the IE numbers are quite high.
Still, I think Microsoft will eventually have to do some sort of development on IE, as it stands now, it’s feature set and lack of standards support is holding back the web. Web designers and developers are wondering what’s up with IE, as we have to create sites that work in that sorry old browser. Yes, IE is the new Netscape 4.x.
Tim Bray blames Microsoft, and I do to… I spent wasted a number of hours this week trying to get IE/Windows to do what Safari, IE/Mac, and all the Gecko-based browsers got right.
Once again, damn you Microsoft!