I tried to load an applet that didn't subclass java.applet.Applet and Internet Explorer didn't complain. What's up?

This is an interesting feature of Internet Explorer's non-standard VM. If the class doesn't subclass Applet, it will still load. The "magic" methods of applets won't be called though [init(), start(), stop(), and destry()]. If the class is a subclass of Component, paint() still will be called though.

Netscape browsers, appletviewer, and the Java Plug-in will refuse to load an applet that is not a subclass of java.applet.Applet.