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Technology Stocks : COMS & the Ghost of USRX w/ other STUFF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: David Lawrence who wrote (10851)	12/18/1997 12:51:00 PM
From: Scrapps	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22053

Netscape program to let users replace IE with Navigator browser By Michael Vizard and Carolyn A. April InfoWorld Electric Posted at 12:57 PM PT, Dec 16, 1997 Looking to capitalize on Microsoft's current entanglements with the U.S. Department of Justice, rival Netscape is getting set to launch a new program aimed at giving users easier access to its Navigator Web browser. Dubbed "Freedom of Choice," the program will incorporate a button onto its Web site that will allow users to deinstall Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser from their systems and replace it with Navigator. Taking the program a step further, Netscape said it also plans to ask its partners to add the same deinstall/install button to their Web sites. The program signals Netscape taking advantage of the Department of Justice's recent preliminary injunction barring Microsoft from requiring PC vendors licensing its Windows operating system to also preinstall its Internet Explorer browser, said Mike Homer, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Netscape. (See Court restrains Microsoft from linking IE 4.0 to Win95.) Pricing for Navigator installed via the Freedom of Choice program will remain the same, including the 90-day free trial period, Netscape officials said. The program is set to launch in the next couple days, officials said. Predictably, Microsoft dismissed Netscape's move. "This is just a P.R. stunt without any substance," spokesman Mark Murray said. "Consumers have always had complete freedom choice use any browser they want." In fact, PC users could end up damaging their Windows operating system if they use Netscape's program, Murray warned. "If Netscape hasn't designed this right and it deinstalls any significant portion of Internet Explorer, it probably will hurt the functionality of their operating system," he said. "I imagine all it does is removes the icon or something trivial or superficial like that, but if it actually deinstalls components of Internet Explorer I think users need to be very careful about doing anything like that." On Monday, Microsoft announced plans to appeal Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's ruling on the grounds that it was an error for the court to impose a preliminary injunction after denying the Justice Department's petition to hold Microsoft in contempt of a 1995 antitrust consent decree. (See Microsoft appeals preliminary injunction in anti-trust case.) Netscape Communications Corp., in Mountain View, Calif., is at netscape.com. Microsoft Corp., in Redmond, Wash., is at microsoft.com. Bob Trott contributed to this article. infoworld.com

To: David Lawrence who wrote (10851)	12/18/1997 1:08:00 PM
From: Scrapps	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 22053

Windows 95 with Explorer 4.01 on way to OEMs By Bob Trott InfoWorld Electric Posted at 4:58 PM PT, Dec 17, 1997 Four days before a federal judge ordered Microsoft to stop requiring PC makers to offer Internet Explorer with Windows 95, the software company issued an update to the operating system that furthers the browser-OS integration. In addition to the most recent upgrade to its browser Internet Explorer 4.01, the update that went out on Dec. 8 to hardware vendors, OSR 2.5 includes DirectX 5.0 support, USB capabilities, updates to online service clients and some bug fixes. The new version should be widely available in the channel by late January, Windows product manager Shannon Perdue said. It is the inclusion of the browser, which is tightly integrated with the operating system, that could raise eyebrows. Microsoft officials pointed out that PC makers do not have to use OSR 2.5, which has been in the works for several weeks. "It is optional for OEMs," Perdue said. "Most will probably choose to take it." Last week, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issued a preliminary injunction ordering Microsoft to stop requiring PC vendors to include Explorer as a condition of licensing Windows 95. Microsoft responded this week with an appeal, but said it would comply with the order in the meantime by offering the original release of Windows 95, which did not include integrated Explorer files, or showing OEMs how to remove the browser from the OS. Microsoft officials insist that the case with the Department of Justice will not affect shipment of Windows 98 in the second half of 1998. OSR 2.5 essentially is a precursor to Windows 98, which will feature browser-OS integration. Microsoft, in Redmond, Wash., can be reached at microsoft.com. infoworld.com How many browsers you got open...huh lurker?ÿ 1500 or so to go. I've tried to post this four times and it won't post, are you pulling strings???? This if it post now will have taken over 20 minutes to get posted. :o(