There were basically two suppliers. One was Microsoft, whom they hate. The other is Netscape. So they do the obvious thing and buy it. Netscape technology has contributed to AOL's calendar and other features.
Analysts take a middle view on the merger.
This time, of course, it's AOL that is the freewheeling upstart, while Time Warner is the tradition-bound entity. If the reshaping of Netscape occurred largely out of sight, the same won't be true of Time Warner. Pooling makes it more difficult to spin off or divest parts of the merged company. Merrill Lynch analyst Henry Blodget thinks this means that AOL Time Warner will be less than the sum of its current parts. Even the much-vaunted Time Warner cable operations, supposedly the key impetus for this deal, might be sold if cable access continues to evolve into something truly open to all.