SNIP
>
>Does that answer your question?

Getting there...thanks for the patience.

I pretty much figured that it was 'in my best interest' as far a developer coding requirements are concerned.

But my question is a little "deeper". In its most simple form my question is: Are we at the mercy of MS keeping up-to-date with Netscape, Opera, etc. in order for this to truly do a BEST RENDER job on each browser?

Assuming yes, then the maintenance issues arise.
Hypothetically I could have a wonderful application that is rendering well and acceptably and predictably on 3 versions of IE, 3 versions of Netscape and 2 versions of Opera. Now MS issues a 'maintenance' item (service pack or Windows "fix" or whatever to support best-rendering in the just released version of Netscape. I apply it.
--- Can this affect my previously rendering-OK other 3 existing Netscape users, making it bad where it was good?
------ Assuming so, then I'd want to fall back to the old (proper) one. Is it packaged so that I can do this?
--- How will it handle the lastest version of a browser if I haven't yet installed (maybe MS hasn't yet delivered) best-render support for the latest version of Netscape?

The corollary to the question above is: Why would I think that MS would care to spend the time and money necessary to keep OTHER browsers doing a best-render job? In other words, how can I protect myself from MS letting OTHER browser rendering become poorer and poorer, thus pushing me and everyone else to IE?

I like the idea behind the objective but I have a worry that there are hidden implications that may not be so palatable. Along the same lines that Attorney General Ashcroft wants wide-ranging powers to be able to put an end to terrorism, worrying many that ANYONE's personal freedoms are in jeopardy because it can easily be implemented far differently than initially stated.