A VIRTUAL MERGER

February 1999
		How will the merger of two of the largest Internet companies change the face of the Web? Two industry experts who differ on the agreement answer your questions.

Return to Forum Introduction What changes will the average computer users see? Will these mergers help or hinder competition? Will AOL be the death of Netscape? Why does AOL still distribute the Microsoft broswer with its software? Will this merger offer competition for Microsoft?

Gordon M. Howard of California asks: I have Netscape and my brother has AOL. Is it going to be an advantage to us to be part of the same organization? What advantages is this merger to me? Will there be any changes that I could notice? Paul Gillian, editor of Computerworld, responds: I presume you mean that you have the Netscape and AOL browsers. In that respect, there will probably be little immediate difference you will notice. AOL has stated its intention to continue using the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser technology as the basis for its own browser for the foreseeable future. However, I think you can expect to see support for Netscape under AOL improve fairly quickly. Keep in mind, though, that all browsers are pretty similar in features and functions these days. Both Microsoft's and Netscape's browsers do perfectly well viewing the vast majority of Web sites. So the choice of browser is less and less relevant to getting things done on the Internet.   John C. Dvorak, hi tech writer, responds: At first there should be little if any change. AOL bought Netscape primarily for its Web site and customers who use NetCenter as a start page. Whether AOL can keep the browser technology improving in a bigger question. Luckily we don't expect too many more new features to be added to browsers that can't be easily adopted. I wouldn't worry.