Yes, it'll work with the standards people, the company says, but it shows a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the task. And meanwhile, it's actively stopping anyone else from writing software that works with its service. Talk of lawsuits and concerted action. The best thing to do would be to leave the invitation open for AOL to join in, and press on regardless. Even if we get down to two main systems, AOL and The Free World, it'll be an improvement - and open standards, once widely used, nearly always eventually engulf everything else.
Mathematical logic says so.
Check where a program comes from. Check what it's trying to do by watching the way it accesses data and other programs. Alert the user if something's going on that doesn't seem right or can be dangerous. Think about the implications of connecting systems together. It's a lot of work, and work that frequently doesn't get done because to the user, a system that's entirely secure looks and feels much like one that's riddled with holes.