Netscape will be around for a while longer as a subsidiary of AOL/Time-Warner, but I'd say that the writing is on the wall. According to this Yahoo news article, they're dropping Nagivator and will try to become an "Internet media hub brimming with Time Warner artists and publications, aimed at office workers and Web purists not already using AOL services." In other words, they're being set up to fail in a genre that's killed off lots of other, more promising, companies. Time-Warner did this once before, and failed, with Pathfinder.com.

I'd say that the browser is no longer a particular concern of the government's. The hot area of competition these days is instant messaging, and Microsoft's replaying the IE strategy by building an IM client into the new Windows XP. This should be an interesting fight, because AOL's Darth "Steve" Case is fighting dirty to try and monopolize that field. Everybody's obsessed on the wrong villain; it's not Bill Gates we should be watching, but Case, who's trying to monopolize the world's entertainment and info media. 150 channels on my satellite dish, and most of 'em proudly announce that they're an "AOL/Time-Warner company".

--Robert