Mark & Gerald,
I've greatly enjoyed this thread in relation to Moore's books. I've just finished reading Crossing the Chasm and skimmed Inside the Tornado for marketing ideas for the firm I'm working for right now.
Mark brings up a key point in that the market needs to be more clearly defined.
The whole idea of browser/internet interactivity is a great one, however, it's only in it's infancy. I can see the day when a browser is not needed to hyperlink to a remote site, rather the linking technology will be imbedded in the the OS. This explains why Microsoft is going after Netscape with such a vengence -- they aren't trying to conquer a new market, rather they see the browser paradigm as a threat to their long standing monopoly on operating systems. It also explains why microsoft hasn't tried to buy out netscape. All Microsoft needs to do is buy time until they can build the next generation OS that is fully internet compatible.
I do think Netscape is in the tornado, but because the market definition in so volatile, and the stakes are so high, the path of this tornado does not necessarily end up on Main Street, or mass market acceptance, for Netscape. True mass market appeal is going to require faster communications and computing devices that current non-pc users would be comfortable using. This will require a cheap browsing machine like Oracle has envisioned, and content that is indespensible for the average American, as Microsoft and Sony have envisioned.
Netscape could lead this wild trip to mass market acceptance, or they could be left in the dust. They have the money and the talent, but if they only focus on developing the "browser" market that they are trying to create, they could be leading themselves into a very tight corner.
And, as Micheal Murphy says, browsers will always be free.
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