detente

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

Title: detente

Did AOL have this kind of victory in mind when it purchased Netscape, originally seen as pretty worthless?

from SLATE's summary of major US newspapers:
>The [Wall Street JOURNAL], which has the best coverage of the Microsoft/AOL Time
Warner agreement, calls the settlement a "strategic detente
between two of the world's most bitter business rivals."
Specifically, Microsoft--again, [SLATE's] bread and butter--will grant
AOL a seven-year royalty-free license to its Internet browsing
software, greater access to its Windows operating system and a
long-term license to its digital media software. The two
companies also agreed to talk about making their
instant-messaging products compatible--though, as everybody
notes, they've said that before and not delivered. And the former
rivals agreed to collaborate on technology that could one day set
the standard for how music and movies are sold over the Internet.
 
>While AOL scores some much-needed cash to pay down its debts, the
papers tend to agree that Microsoft is the big winner in the
deal. The agreement could be the "hook" the company needs to
spread its Windows software among new devices, like cell phones
and hand-held computers. Meanwhile, both companies will have
major influence over the adoption of copyright protections for
digital music. "The agreement could give Microsoft even greater
influence over the future of the Internet," the WSJ notes. Yet
one critic from an "anti-Microsoft trade group" tells the [Washington POST]
Microsoft's entree into another lucrative market could incur
further antitrust scrutiny. "All of these areas bear close
watching," a Consumer Federation of America official tells the
Post. <

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine