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AOL Builds New IE-Based Browser
jfruhlinger writes "According to News.com.com.com, America Online is preparing to release a free AOL-branded browser that is 'based on Microsoft's Internet Explorer technology.' The browser will be available to users who don't have AOL as their ISP. I admit that I find this development baffling -- not only does AOL already own a browser, but why on earth would a non-AOL user want to use an AOL-branded version of IE?"
Microsoft last year granted AOL a seven-year royalty-free license to use IE technology in its products. The license was one of many concessions that Microsoft offered AOL as part of a $750 million settlement in an antitrust lawsuit filed by Netscape in January 2002.
However, one source familiar with the new software said the Microsoft settlement and IE license did not play a factor in AOL's decision to develop its own browser.
Yeah, right...
Evil A + Evil B = More evil!
They are scared of google. If you can find your email and web searches easily, why do you need AOL's portal? You don't.
Google is going to release a browser that is just AOL for free. Pretty content filling the screen all over the place making the daily news, email, messaging free and easy for everybody.
AOL and microsoft-- they both know this. This is their answer.
God help us all.
Anyone who's still locked into AOL and hasn't left yet must obviously be very trusting of their brand. Not only that, but an AOL-specific version for their customers means easier troubleshooting. Don't forget that MS has abandoned IE upgrades for the older generations of Windows installations; hopefully AOL might release its own security packs later?
Get off my launchpad!
I think it's rather simple.. they want to be synonymous with "The Web" (known to us as a collection of other things) to the average home user. I know plenty of folk who think AOL *IS* the web.. it can't hurt their business.
Now, as to who would want an AOL branded IE, I know I wouldn't, but I imagine they will introduce some value-add to make it interesting to the typical non-technical user.
Alright, so AOL is the bane of the internet. AOL users really aren't the most knowledgable users on the internet either. So pairing up AOL users with Internet Explorer (known for its holes and exploits) will just make the worm and virus problem worse. I mean, with all the popups with IE and AOL users used to pretty flashing content through AOL...means a lot of infected machines.
"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams" -- Willy Wonka
...of course is will AOL simply reskin the existing IE or will they actually write their own and address security issues on their own?
AOL sticks with IE in a deal with the devil! AOL is evil.
AOL buys Nullsoft. Definitely good!
AOL axes Gnutella, Justin leaves for greener pastures. AOL, clearly evil.
AOL uses wxWindows in AOL Communicator. AOL is obviously good!
AOL releases a branded version of IE. AOL, definitely evil.
Look, AOL is a big fucking company. They are going to do lots of good and evil things, because there are lots of people making decisions at different levels of the company. Do they have a coherent browser strategy? Not really. Have they tromped on the corpse of Netscape? Definitely.
There's finally a good browser based on Gecko (Firefox) and they've basically abandoned the Netscape browser. But AOL is just dealing with the reality of who their user base is and what they expect (the trailing edge of the Internet revolution, if you will - these people think IE is great, and will think a better IE is even better). And for all I know there may still be deals in place keeping them working with MS on the browser front - for a long time they were locked into that deal to get pre-installed AOL with Windows. Also, I wouldn't be shocked to see an AOL-branded or Netscape-branded version of Firefox come down the pipe 4 or 5 months from now too (post 1.0, of course).
As for the rest of us, let's just enjoy the cool shit that AOL occasionally produces, and continue to ignore the rest of the crap that will invariably come out of them.
AOL put a lot of money into working on Mozilla and didn't pull any corporate shenanigans a la Sun's debacle with OpenOffice. Where would Mozilla be today had AOL/Netscape not pull millions of dollars of R&D money into building it up? Probably nowhere, or just now becoming remotely useful.
OSS fans need to adopt a bit of political realism here. Corporate entities are amoral, and that means that they will side with those who best serve their owners' interests. It is thus in the interest of OSS users to actively encourage them to see OSS like Mozilla, OpenOffice and the Linux kernel as being in their interests to support.
AOL has given a lot, and I can't think of them actually taking anything. Does anyone seriously expect the average AOL user to jump over to Firefox? It's hard to believe that people as smart as many OSS users are so detatched from the public that they don't see how incompetent most AOL users are. AOL knows that, most of us should too.
The people who are hooked on AOL are not a significant enough block anymore to be the pivotal base to win over. If AOL is smart, they'll capitalize on their investment into Mozilla by making the Mac version of AOL software use Gecko. That's more than enough users to make a dent in the market. AOL, last I heard, had two million Mac users. That'd be over twice the number of people that downloaded Firefox 1.0PR.
In the end, people should be amazed that AOL has given so much to OSS communities, without playing battered wife to the Evil Empire like Sun is doing now after their settlement.
Click here or a puppy gets stomped!
They already own Netscape (besides which , Mozilla's free) and have for years. Why do they need to go with IE and its inferior standards compliance?
my sig's at the bottom of the page.
Omg. AOL and IE... it cant get any worse.
but why on earth would a non-AOL user want to use an AOL-branded version of IE?"
B/c there are still plenty of clueless users that AOL does not yet monopolize, and ironically they won't have a clue that the browser is just IE with AOL logos on it and an AOL homepage.
Flying is easy, just throw yourself at the ground and miss. -Douglas Adams
Dumb users don't know how to patch their systems or install every single activx install popup. Bad choice for dumb users, which is why I put my dad on opera.
Have you ever been to a turkish prison?
Well, I usually tell them that I'm leaving the country.
That works like a charm everytime, and they just can't argue against that now can they?
Ofcourse, I had a bad experience once when the guy wanted to know *why* I was leaving the country.
Ehmmm.
Stupid users + insecure browser = why don't they just GIVE their computers away?
Talk about a bunch of zombie machines waiting to happen.
Question everything
Because not everybody is computer literate enough to know that AOL sucks. Granny aint going to care what some punk tells her if AOL is telling her they can make her internet simpler. I find it distasteful that people on here can't understand that the internet does not make sense to everybody, and that some people need assistance with it.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
I haven't read the book, but that sounds wrong. The MSFT/AOL deal you refer to was in place for several years before AOL purchased Netscape. Even if this were not the case, you don't pay $4 billion ($10 billion, by the time the deal closed) for a company in order to get a deal with another company that will place an icon representing your service in their product so that there is a possibility that a user of their product will decide to click on your icon and then decide to subscribe to your service. Especially when that other company already has its own service (MSN) that directly competes with yours and has its own icon featured just as prominently.
They thought that their ciustomers wern't in enought pain all ready?
:P
I smell a conspiracy, maybe its a favor getting returned for the AOL link on every desktop
GPLv2: I want my rights, I want my phone call! DRM: What use is a phone call, if you are unable to speak?
It ain't flamebait if it's true.
I have gas, but my car uses petrol.
Actually the one thing users are good it is clicking 'Ok' on every box that comes up (especially activex).
Comment removed based on user account deletion
What could be better? Someone that doesn't know what they are doing... Using a browser that doesn't know how to protect the user. There is a god; He just doesn't like stupid people :^)
My wife doesn't listen to me either...