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

To: Bearded One who wrote (16613)	1/22/1998 2:44:00 PM
From: Alan Buckley	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

Thoughts on today's news... DOJ has now argued that removing the IE functionality was unacceptable relief and that removing only the IE icon was what it really wanted. But clearly the icon by itself is not an "other product" in either the consent decree or the anti-trust acts. Isn't this legally significant? Wonder if it will come up on the appeal. "Today's decision is a victory for consumers and innovators," said Assistant Attorney General Joel Klein, the Justice Department's top antitrust enforcer. Hmmm. With the icon removed but all the IE code there, developers can still count on and code to it. No change there. And I've seen Packard-Bell machines that boot up with their own startup app on top of Windows that effectively hides the entire desktop, including that pesky IE icon, so hiding the icon doesn't seem significant. Who was served by this injunction? It will be interesting to see if any of the OEMs actually order the iconless version. Good and necessary move by NSCP making Nav free in all cases.

To: Bearded One who wrote (16613)	1/22/1998 8:34:00 PM
From: Keith Hankin	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 24154

Questions for Lawyers: I'm not a lawyer, but I'll make an attempt anyways: 1) Was Microsoft afraid of what the judge would do? Of course. Why else would they have settled? 2) Does this agreement mean that Microsoft has lost control over the "look and feel" of the desktop? Can Compaq or Micron or whomever have, say, Navigator start up automatically when the computer is turned on? Very good question. But, in a way, they already have lost control over the look and feel. This was partially of their own doing. First was the coming of the browser interface, which brings a new way of GUI desktop operation. Second, MSFT themselves have changed the desktop metaphor several times in the history of the company, so people are somewhat used to change here. This started with early versions of Windows and continued through Win95, the latest being the desktop/web integrated GUI operation, with the single-click access instead of double-clicking. But as to whether OEMs can now add or remove icons or software to their machines, who knows? 3) By allowing the "Add/Remove Programs" utility to be used to remove IE, is Microsoft admitting that IE is a "Program"? I haven't any idea on this one.