George;

>The question that needs to be resolved is did they integrate the browser into the OS in such a way as to impede competition?

We all know what happens when we try to load specific software onto a Windows OS. If you do not have the "proper browser" installed, you have a problem. So far I have not seen a message like: "Netscape 4.0 required". Not that I would have Netscape on my computer mind you. But I am sure you know what I mean. The I.E. Browser is tightly tied to the OS.

>I appreciate the kind words, Jerry, but I'm just another "grunt" out here trying to make it through. I had a professor once who said that this (Computer Science) is the most difficult of the exact sciences. Programming may not completely qualify as Computer Science, but, for my money, it's awful close.

I somehow cannot conceive of Computer Science as a true science. Since I do not have a Ph.D. I am not allowed an opinion. At least that is what one of our professors told us. “Only Ph.D’s are credentialed and allowed to have an opinion”.

Nor can I agree that anyone should be called a “software engineer”. Such thoughts remind me of a working class called “sanitary engineers”, which others call garbage men. Having a title may or may not be representative of reality. Then again reality comes in many forms, flavors and aromas.

Tom