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

To: Keith Hankin who wrote (16732)	1/26/1998 4:24:00 PM
From: Daniel Schuh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

Keith, I posted this before, but in case you were wondering where Reggie got the highly original opinions expressed in 16655 and 16657, check out infoworld.com "It's an interesting move on their part. We're glad that Netscape is following our lead," said Dave Fester, group product manager for Internet Explorer. Fester said that Microsoft expected that Communicator would become free, but was caught by surprise on the source-code announcement. "By offering complete source code, who will support it? How easy will it be to modify?" Fester said. "It's going to be difficult to get your hands around it in the short term." Microsoft has since August 1996 offered an Explorer "control" free to developers, and that it forms the core for the clients used by both AOL and CompuServe, Fester said. The ActiveX control is a separate code component that provides the browser functionality. Developers can use it to bring those functions to their products, as with Quicken '98 from Intuit, he said. Now, there's always this confusion about source, code, and "technology". Anyway, all of Reggie's thoughts are original, they just happen to be highly congruent with the pronouncements of the Microspinmeisters. Purely coincidence, of course. Cheers, Dan.

To: Keith Hankin who wrote (16732)	1/26/1998 5:36:00 PM
From: Reginald Middleton	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

<So you're saying that MSFT releases its source code for anyone to customize? I don't think so. Are you saying that your ability to add your own logo or change the menus that the top of the screen is "highly customized"? Our releasing of the source code is not anything like MSFT's IE customization program.> I am saying that MSFT has allowed customization of thier browser ever since version 3.01. I am also saying that this customization extends from setting custom menus, links and logos to embedding the browser into your own application and allowing your application to make use of IE's browsing and HTML rendering abilities. In other words, you can put browsing capabilities in your home grown wordprocessor, or your homegrown corporate valuation suite. This is done much easier and quicker with the OCX/COM method than would be accomplished pouring through reams of code. Not to mention the fact that MSFT objects have been tested safe and trusted by the public, much more so than possibly rogue custom code that has to wait for NSCP validation. I am not knocking NSCP, but I am sticking to reality. IE is put together better than Nav, period. If Nav was componentized, they would not have to give away thier code, they would simply license thier components for free like MSFT. NSCP's biggest percieved advantage was that they were smaller and nimbler than MSFT. This browser situtation proves that MSFT can be more nimble than a small company, despite its 10 billion dollars in size.