Before you start

I need to have different sections of the site based on category or topic and have each section have its own theme. Should I use the Sections module or FlexiMax to achieve this?

Here's a screenshot example of what I need:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/noborders/stuff/categorytheme.gif

I need to have different sections of the site based on category or topic and have each section have its own theme. Will the Taxonomy Theme module allow for the following?

Here's a screenshot example of what I need:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/noborders/stuff/categorytheme.gif

I have a client who wants to set up a system so that affiliates are automatically given a pre-designed web site and users who enter info on this site are credited to their "sponsor." In addition, sponsors should only be able to view information from folks who entered it via their web site, but company management should be able to view all info.

(operational example - not Drupal - at www.fggweb.com)

Is this a good solution for Drupal?

How would Drupal's taxonomy system handle (or perhaps improve upon) the following setup?

Currently, in sites running PostNuke, I would have the site's content assigned with both Categories and Topics.

I would have Categories such as Announcements, Editorials, Reviews...etc.

and Topics such as Politics, Sports, Entertainment...etc.

So, for example, I can have a post that is under the Category of Editorials AND under the Topic of Politics.

I can also view all posts that come under a certain Category or by a certain Topic.

We are currently considering a Drupal installation and for various reasons (mainly the fact that all or our servers currently run PHP5 and have to continue to do so for other reasons) strongly prefer 4.6.

There are a lot of modules which are only released for 4.5, however - some of which we would definitely be looking to use if possible. The module download page says "Modules released for Drupal 4.5 will not work for Drupal 4.6." which is fair enough. Were we foolish enough to try running a 4.5 module on 4.6, however, what kind of problems would we be likely to hit?

Which email list is best if I want to be notified of upgrades, especially security-related ones, but not much else?