>Bill-I wasn't in Europe so I can't "verify" the numbers you quoted from FT
Well, Pat, I WAS in Europe, in October, visiting a friend of mine at Concorzio Pisa Ricerche. (http://www.cpr.it)
I don't have any scientific market share figures for the European market either, but I can tell you that, at CPR, the browser market/mind share was Netscape 100% -- Microsoft zero.
My friend designs web pages for CPR and for clients of a network called "Towernet," which is affiliated with CPR (you can find it on the CPR web site).
Let me tell you a few things:
1. Neither she nor any of her colleagues has Microsoft Internet Explorer on their computers. She doesn't even want to take the time to download it. I know. I asked her.
2. Neither she nor any of her colleagues could give a hoot whether their web pages render well on Microsoft Internet Explorer. Nor are they even aware of the fact that some pages designed for Internet Explorer don't render well in Navigator. For them, the web runs on Netscape, end of story.
3. She could not care less about Active-X. Sorry, Regimond, but they just don't use it in her organization.
4. Talking to computer professional-type people on the train (there were a lot of them -- all coming back from SMAU), I got the impression that a lot of IS professionals hate Microsoft. Given a choice, they would prefer a non-Microsoft product, other things being equal.
As far as I can tell, her situation is pretty much typical. The people who know about the web use Netscape. Microsoft Internet Explorer doesn't even exist yet in Italy as far as I can tell.
Of course Netscape doesn't even concentrate on Italy, and, you're right, they need to develop a better international sales organization "on the ground" Their showing at the big SMAU computer show in Milan was woefully inadequate for a company of their importance.
But to say they don't and can't dominate the European market (at least what of it I saw) is a joke. |
