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

To: Dwight E. Karlsen who wrote (19170)	5/17/1998 8:58:00 AM
From: nommedeguerre	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 24154

Dwight, >>It doesn't matter anymore, Norm. Nobody using Win98 will need Netscape's browser. So those 60% of the users of Netscape will have this decision made for them? Explain this concept of consumer choice and the free-market phenomenon? In this case it has failed to play a role in the erstwhile emerging browser market. >>After all Norm, programming isn't rocket science - Too bad most hackers see it this way otherwise they would have known what a Modified Julian Date was and we would not have the famous Y2K problem, now would we. Although true to a certain extent; beyond the extent lies all the issues such as scalability, network security, parallelism, etc. Issues which are not as trivial as they sound and which are probably holding up NT. Surely you can agree with this. >>but to successfully develop, market and maintain software on a for-profit basis, it takes a whole lot of qualified, bright, energetic, creative and happy people who enjoy working on a winning team Netscape had all these but did not own the OS distribution channel. No amount of creativity, management, or advertising can replace the advantage of being tied to Windows and shipping with almost every computer sold. What exactly did they do wrong? Writing browsers that 60% of the market still uses? >>Apparently NSCP execs thought that all they had to do was write a program, relocate to Silicon Valley, CA (home of Cisco, HP, Intel, etc.), take their company public, and they were forever golden. How is this different than Microsoft moving from Issiquah to Redmond and going public? Netscape had a product that was as hot as DOS was in its day. Where would MSFT be if IBM had decided to cut off their air-supply by giving away DOS for free? Would you be defending IBM as vehemently as MSFT? In case you think I'm defending Netscape itself; I have never owned Netscape but do have MSFT stock. This last bit of "embrace and extend" is just too blatant to ignore though. I do not think these continued acts of "pushing their luck with the system" will result in anything good for the stockholders. The reason they have to buy a "grass-roots" campaign is because they are ruining their image with the public. >>Redmond, WA says, "not so fast boys, it's not that easy." Advice given to or received from MSFT? Cheers, Norm