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Technology Stocks : Compaq
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To: Chris who wrote (25632)5/6/1998 11:48:00 AM
From: rudedog  Read Replies (1) of 97611
 
Chris -
Agree with your post, but could not determine if you think that MS actually tried to keep OEMs from installing competing browsers. I don't know ALL of the OEM deals, but I know the 'standard' deal, and I know how it was applied at CPQ, Dell and HP. This deal did NOTHING to keep OEMs from installing Netscape or any other software product. It simply said that OEMs installing WIN95 had to install the complete OEM kit which included the IE browser. There was an additional 'Windows Experience' clause which said that the FIRST time the system was booted, a standard MSFT product screen had to appear. After the first boot (i.e. the very first time a new system was booted after being unboxed) then anyone could do whatever they want with the box.
Lots of OEMs including CPQ chose to also install Netscape on some of their product lines. Netscape's argument was that since OEMs had to install IE they would not want to install any other browser. The fact that many corporate customers routinely specified installation of additional software, including software which replaced existing free components from MSFT, seems to have been lost in the debate.
The fact was that Netscape had not managed to create sufficient demand in the majority of the corporate world to get those customers to request Netscape installation. IMO a campaign to get customers to request Netscape as a part of the standard installation on Win95 systems would have been a much more fruitful course for Netscape to pursue, of course then they would have needed some features or other reasons to get those customers to make the request.
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