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Technology Stocks : MSFT Internet Explorer vs. NSCP Navigator -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (14557)	11/30/1997 6:45:00 PM
From: Daniel Schuh	Respond to of 24154

Windows whenever infoworld.com This is acknowledged ilk brother Robert X. Cringely, the column starts out about Oracle before we get to Bill's part. The above title is the subheading. Speaking of much-loved companies, one of the things I really enjoy is Microsoft's inability to get software out on time. This means that everyone comes up to meat trade shows, taps the side of their nose, and lets me know the truth (off the record, of course) about when the next Big Thing is set for release. I have it on good authority from a major hardware vendor that Windows 98 will be launched on April 1. I have it on good authority from a major software vendor that it will ship June 1. I've also been informed that Windows NT 5.0 is going to be so very, very late that Microsoft will do an interim release called either NT 4.5 or NT Lite. I also know for a fact -- honest -- that if Microsoft misses an internal deadline for NT 5.0 in September 1998, then the release date will automatically be jumped to the second quarter of 1999. Well, maybe. These rumors all seem to be missing the point. The people writing the code don't know when it will be ready. That's what makes software fun. It's like preparing spaghetti. You throw it against the wall, and if it some of it sticks, it's done. Windows 98 will have lots of cute bugs which people like me will write about with glee. NT 5.0 will not be everything that Microsoft has promised. Every PC sold in the world will be preloaded with this software. Everything else is details. Sad but true. Time once again for that prayer from The Economist: As far as rationalism is concerned, digital citizens actually seem to spend rather more time in prayer than other people ("Oh Lord, deliver us from Windows ...") Cheers, Dan.

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (14557)	11/30/1997 6:51:00 PM
From: Daniel Schuh	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 24154

Logic apparently doesn't count when it comes to market share numbers infoworld.com Finally, there's this guy who's been with the ilk since long before we had a name. Pretty strong words this time around, but not exactly original ones, it's a message I've sadly been preaching for well nigh a year here. Of course, my Microphile counterparts have been preaching the same message all along, with a different conclusion of course. Netscape Navigator and Sun's Java are the only two things that stand between Microsoft and monopoly control of the Internet. Bill Gates and his "I surfed 10 hours and couldn't find enough Microsoft formats" memo coupled with Microsoft's ISP license agreements that require ISP to use Internet Explorer-specific features demonstrate that Microsoft intends to populate the Web with Microsoft-proprietary formats. This is a difficult recommendation, and I do not make it lightly. But if we are to keep the Internet as an open playing field, the Justice Department must extend its actions well beyond the consent decree, perhaps even forbidding the integration of Explorer into Windows 98. Well, I'm not holding my breath on that second paragraph. But, resistance must be offered, on all fronts. Cheers, Dan.