John, Consider why AOL has Netscape.. They are on track to be a fairly major monopoly themselves, given half a chance. And they have an agreement with Microsoft, that if they use the IE browser, Microsoft will will support having the AOL icon prominently on the desktop... So AOL is using Netscape primarily as an offset to Microsoft's OS monopoly. If you think it says anything at all about the relative merits of Netscape as a browser vs IE as a browser --- well, I have some land in Florida that is "frequently above water"..
I have been having a discussion with Robert Levy, senior policy analyst for the Cato Institute, who is aggressively defending Microsoft in this case. Levy has used the argument that Microsoft wasn't able to exert monopoly power, as evidenced by the fact that Netscape was surviving with such a high usage in the free market. His point frequently has been that government action is unnecessary, because the better product will survive in a free market... He uses Quicken and Netscape as examples of where Microsoft was unable to prevail, despite a monopoly in the OS, because of the operation of consumer choice.
You certainly are free to use IE, John... I use it myself for some things... But I really think Netscape is better, and would prefer not to have to deal with an IE that pops up and acts on variious of my files when I have not asked it to do so... "Benefit" is in the eye of the beholder, methinks <G>
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