CNBC Interview with NSCP CEO Jim Barksdale:
<CNBC_Live> tyler: With the latest ruling against microsoft,
<CNBC_Live> rivals are cheering. Joining us now with the
<CNBC_Live> latest is bruce francis with "tech '97."
<CNBC_Live> hello, bruce. Bruce: Good morning everybody.
<CNBC_Live> >>> as we have been reporting this morning, a
<CNBC_Live> federal judge has enjoined microsoft from licensing
<CNBC_Live> windows 95 along with its browser, internet explorer.
<CNBC_Live> the case is far from over, but it's the biggest blow
<CNBC_Live> yet to microsoft's strategy of combining the two
<CNBC_Live> products, as they have said they want to do in windows
<CNBC_Live> 98. The most direct
<CNBC_Live> beneficiary, archrival netscape.
<CNBC_Live> ceo jim barksdale joins us now from mountain view,
<CNBC_Live> california. Good morning, thank for being
<CNBC_Live> with us. >> good morning, bruce.
<CNBC_Live> bruce: This is a good news for netscape?
<CNBC_Live> apparently shareholders think so.
<CNBC_Live> they're bidding you up 2 1/4 right now.
<CNBC_Live> >> sure it's good news for us, it's good news for our
<CNBC_Live> customers and consumers. Bruce: How do you expect this
<CNBC_Live> to effect immediately the way you do business?
<CNBC_Live> >> well, within the next three to six months, many of the pc
<CNBC_Live> manufacturers are going to be rebidding their desktop
<CNBC_Live> software and so we think it gives us a great shot at that
<CNBC_Live> business. That we have been pretty much
<CNBC_Live> precluded from up to now because of the microsoft
<CNBC_Live> practices. Bruce: Give me your best
<CNBC_Live> guess. It seems to me very, very
<CNBC_Live> common for a lot of pc to have both browsers on them.
<CNBC_Live> do you have any sense of how many new pc that are shipped
<CNBC_Live> actually do have both? >> I don't know, bruce, i
<CNBC_Live> haven't seen those numbers. But I think you're right.
<CNBC_Live> many, many are shipped with both products on them.
<CNBC_Live> bruce: The current market share figures, it's hard to
<CNBC_Live> figure out just what is the correct number.
<CNBC_Live> are you comfortable with 60% for you?
<CNBC_Live> that's been on the low end of what i've seen?
<CNBC_Live> do you feel that's your good for your market share right
<CNBC_Live> now? >> our market share reported
<CNBC_Live> last week was 67%, bruce, two-thirds of the people
<CNBC_Live> prefer our product, even against these sort of anti-
<CNBC_Live> competitive practices of microsoft so we feel real good
<CNBC_Live> about that. Bruce: If microsoft does
<CNBC_Live> prevail here and gets to go ahead with windows 98 and the
<CNBC_Live> integration of both the browser with the operating
<CNBC_Live> system, does that just ruin your chances of getting ahead
<CNBC_Live> in the browser wars? >> no, no, only 18% of our
<CNBC_Live> revenue last quarter, bruce, came from stand alone browser
<CNBC_Live> sales. Netscape is much more selling
<CNBC_Live> its products to businesses for intrabusiness communications
<CNBC_Live> and electronic commerce outside their businesses.
<CNBC_Live> bruce: Why do we care about browsers?
<CNBC_Live> why does netscape care about browsers if most of your money
<CNBC_Live> and especially even more in the long-term is going to come
<CNBC_Live> from the sale of server software, advertising, things
<CNBC_Live> like that? Why do you care about having
<CNBC_Live> control of the client? >> I don't know that I care to
<CNBC_Live> have control. I just care to have an even
<CNBC_Live> shot. What I care about is consumers
<CNBC_Live> having choice, customers having choice, and i'm
<CNBC_Live> appalled that the current practices preclude them from
<CNBC_Live> that. Bruce: Do you -- but is there
<CNBC_Live> a correlation between having strong browser market share
<CNBC_Live> and good share in the server software? And things that actually make
<CNBC_Live> you money? >> most of our sales, bruce,
<CNBC_Live> are system sales where they buy clients and servers
<CNBC_Live> together regardless of what the exterior market share
<CNBC_Live> would be, but certainly, market share of browsers does
<CNBC_Live> have a lot to do with what developers develop for so that
<CNBC_Live> they can get to their customers.
<CNBC_Live> therefore, it's important that there be a competitive
<CNBC_Live> landscape for these products. Bruce: As the market share
<CNBC_Live> numbers have shifted in browsers, what have you
<CNBC_Live> noticed about the developer response?
<CNBC_Live> has microsoft gets more desktops, has it also gotten
<CNBC_Live> more support from those developers that you as you say,
<CNBC_Live> need their, that strong support?
<CNBC_Live> >> developers want to go where the market is, certainly
<CNBC_Live> two-thirds share for netscape would mean no developers going
<CNBC_Live> to avoid using our product in the development of their
<CNBC_Live> products if they want to get to the market.
<CNBC_Live> so we haven't seen any real change in that.
<CNBC_Live> we have we think about 28,000 developers who develop for our
<CNBC_Live> platform and it's been that number, that number has grown
<CNBC_Live> it seems to me by 5, 6,000 in the last six to nine months.
<CNBC_Live> bruce: Do you think netscape has suffered financial harm
<CNBC_Live> because of what you term as anti-competitive practices so
<CNBC_Live> far, actual financial harm? >> oh, sure it has.
<CNBC_Live> bruce: Would you intend to, if eventually the judge agrees
<CNBC_Live> fully with microsoft, do you intend to seek reparations for
<CNBC_Live> that? Is there legal recourse for
<CNBC_Live> you? >> we'll cross that bridge.
<CNBC_Live> i can't imagine the judge agreeing completely given what
<CNBC_Live> he said yesterday. I can't imagine him agreeing
<CNBC_Live> completely but if he does, certainly we will take that
<CNBC_Live> into consideration. But I don't mean to imply that
<CNBC_Live> it's kept netscape from being the fastest growing software
<CNBC_Live> company in history. But certainly, maybe we could
<CNBC_Live> have grown even a little faster.
<CNBC_Live> we just think it's a major issue of giving customers
<CNBC_Live> choice just like you want choice in your tv programming.
<CNBC_Live> bruce: If microsoft eventually has to put out two versions,
<CNBC_Live> one version of win 9x with the integrated browser and
<CNBC_Live> operating system and one without, is that acceptable to
<CNBC_Live> netscape? >> I would want to see that
<CNBC_Live> proposal at that time. I don't know if that would be
<CNBC_Live> acceptable at all, no. Bruce: All right.
<CNBC_Live> mr. Barksdale, when we get more information, I hope
<CNBC_Live> you'll come on and keep us informed.
<CNBC_Live> >> thank you very much. >>> jim barksdale netscape
<CNBC_Live> ceo, thanks for joining us. We'll keep you plugged in. |
