What do you know about Austronesian languages (repost)

Jonas   Monday, June 13, 2005, 04:18 GMT
...Malay, Bahasa Indonesian, Bali, Javanese, Acehnese, Tetun, Malagasy, Tagalog, Cebuano, Hawaiian, Tongan, Maori, Samoan, et. al.?

How do they sound to you?
Where did this language group originate?
Can a speaker of one understand a speaker of another?
Which is the most radically evolved from the rest?