Quick-- say Microsoft and AOL are locked in a mortal struggle of Good vs. Evil: whose side are you on? You're having trouble figuring out which side is Good, aren't you? And yet, that's the way this crazy world works, sometimes-- hence the phrase "lesser of two evils." Not that AOL or Microsoft are necessarily evil, per se. Whether or not you think so depends entirely on your perspective, knowledge of the companies, and personal experience with them. Let's just say there's no love lost between either company and the AtAT staff, and we'll leave it at that, especially seeing as how Apple's currently (publicly) buddy-buddy with both companies. It's that whole "strange bedfellows" thing.

See, we don't know whether or not you've been following the latest battle between AOL and Microsoft, but it started when MSN Messenger issued forth from Redmond about a week ago. MSN Messenger is basically Microsoft's answer to AOL Instant Messenger; it seems whenever someone has a hot technology that catches on (QuickTime, Netscape Navigator), Microsoft manages to slap together a copy (Video For Windows, Internet Explorer). The problem arose when it became apparent that MSN Messenger was compatible with AOL's product, and actually accessed AOL's servers. AOL had what is commonly termed a "hissy fit" and reconfigured their own servers to deny access from MSN Messenger. Microsoft countered by tweaking MSN Messenger to get around the blockade; AOL changed things again to block MSN Messenger; etc. And we were all treated to the intensely entertaining sight of Microsoft publicly berating AOL for being anticompetitive and asking them to embrace open standards in the field of instant messaging. It's all great fun.

As faithful viewer LeRoy Whitfield notes, that's all backdrop to Apple's latest press release, which otherwise would appear to be coming from somewhere left of left field. Apparently Apple has come down squarely on AOL's side in this battle, without explicitly stating so; the announcement just vaguely states that Apple and AOL will collaborate on software that will allow Mac users "seamless" instant messaging that's compatible with AOL's architecture. To us, this elicits nothing more than a sarcastic "big whoop," since there's already a Mac version of Instant Messenger; the real news implied there is that Apple is now AOL's ally in this latest battle with Microsoft. You can read more about all this in a CNET article, which includes links to other articles about the past week's carnage. And things are probably only going to get bloodier before this is all resolved. Aren't you excited?