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

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (18751)	4/25/1998 12:13:00 PM
From: TFF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

NEWS - Red Herring sees NSCP/InfoSeek likely deal By Peter D. Henig April 24, 1998 The Red Herring Online has learned that Infoseek is holding a companywide meeting on Monday -- and with speculation rife that Netscape (NSCP) will forge stronger links with a single search partner, it's likely that a deal is on the agenda in the search engine's Santa Clara headquarters. Netscape's existing contracts with the major search engines -- Yahoo, Excite, Lycos, and Infoseek -- are expiring. While the company has stated it's in active negotiations with all four partners, Dow Jones has reported that Netscape will make an exclusive deal with -- and take an equity stake in -- a single search partner to power its Netcenter portal to the Web. No. 2 with a bullet While Netscape and Yahoo (YHOO) have a longstanding relationship, Yahoo's lead in the online audience make it unlikely the two traffic titans will score a deal. Although Lycos (LCOS) and Excite (XCIT) remain viable options, Infoseek appears to be the most likely choice for several reasons. Infoseek's stock remains the most reasonably priced among the search engines, and therefore in an all-stock or partial-stock transaction, has the greatest room to appreciate. The company has also just completed a secondary offering of 3 million shares to better position the company's cash reserves for acquisitions and partnerships. Inside sources at Infoseek have confirmed that there is a company goal to increase monthly pageviews by 100 million this year -- a sizable increase that would have to come through outside traffic deals. Chief Executive Officer Harry Motro also told the Red Herring Online that he's made it his company's mission to jump into second place behind Yahoo by the end of 1998 -- and landing all of Netscape's Netcenter search traffic would make that goal easier to reach. The Red Herring Online has also learned that Infoseek and Netscape will be announcing deals with AT&T (T) to play some role in their respective Web sites. Infoseek sources also claim another acquisition is in the pipeline similar to its recent purchase of community chat service Webchat Broadcasting System. Infoseek's earnings also offered some surprises.

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (18751)	4/25/1998 5:26:00 PM
From: nommedeguerre	Respond to of 24154

Dan, >>I wonder. The whole thing did have a faint whiff of a setup, with the cheerful (canned?) banter by notoriously hot tempered Bill. So you think Gates/Dell will take the Best Actor/Supporting Actor awards this year? The whole shenanigan was probably Ballmer's idea, he's such a cut-up with the press. It is still better to sell the unsuspecting public Windows98 in June and then sell them the NT5.0 upgrade in the Fall quarter. Cheers, Norm

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (18751)	4/26/1998 10:49:00 AM
From: Daniel Schuh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

Due Processor: Hey! Computers Go Faster Than the Courts. nytimes.com This is a fairly dull story, but there's one bit at the end that's interesting. Antitrust may be a turn-of-the-century doctrine, but the government has dealt with issues remarkably similar to the ones posed by Microsoft in the not-too-distant past. Take the claim that because Microsoft controls the first screen that people see when they turn on their computers, its Windows operating system is an "essential facility" for any company trying to do online commerce. Owning that gateway to the Internet becomes intriguing to antitrust officials if Microsoft uses it to give an edge to its own Internet services. Microsoft, for example, has given a favored place on the desktop to its World Wide Web travel service, Expedia -- an opportunity that the rival Travelocity service, run by the Sabre Group, says it was denied. Sabre has first-hand experience with such matters, since 15 years ago it was in Microsoft's shoes. Sabre is the computerized reservation system started by American Airlines. In the early 1980s, Sabre came under fire from rival airlines and Washington just as Microsoft is today, in a policy debate over computer screens and who determines the prime slots on that vital piece of information-age real estate. Sabre put its computer terminals on the desks of thousands of travel agents and displayed its flights at the top of those screens -- a huge advantage because 90 percent of all bookings were made from the first screen. American's rivals took their complaints to Washington. The Justice Department investigated. Congress held hearings. Eventually, the Civil Aeronautics Board issued rules saying flights on the reservations systems had to be listed by impartial criteria like time of departure or ticket price. "We were certainly singing a different tune back then," said Bruce Charendoff, executive director of government affairs for Sabre. "The common issue in both cases is market power. As history has shown, if you have it, you use it -- unless you're restrained." I guess the Microsoft line would be that the government was being unfair then, and it's being unfair now. Others might differ. Cheers, Dan.