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

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (19667)	5/22/1998 9:41:00 PM
From: Daniel Schuh	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 24154

A Coke, a Pepsi on a Windows shelf news.com Meanwhile, somebody else fires some shots on the analogical battlefield, this time on the new wave Coke shipping Pepsi front. Microsoft has decided to attack the latter proposal with some novel analogies. Bill Gates contends that asking him to include Navigator with Windows is like asking Coca-Cola to include three cans of Pepsi in every six-pack. As long as we're playing this game, allow me an analogy of my own: Comparing Windows to Coke is like, well, comparing apples to oranges. Remember, in technology terms, Windows is a "platform"--so it's more like a store shelf upon which Coke and Pepsi cans sit. Hence, it would be more apt to say that asking Windows to include Navigator is like asking Coca-Cola to share shelf space with Pepsi. Personally, I think people should lay off the metaphorical analogies, or you end up convinced Bill Gates the man of wealth and taste. According to Gates's logic, IE gained market share not because OEMs had to offer it in every box or that it was free or that it was closely tied to the operating system, but simply because users found it more appealing than Navigator. If this is what he truly believes, then what does Gates have to fear by including Navigator with Windows and having the Netscape icon sit on the desktop? If he believes that Explorer is the better product, then he should have no problem letting users decide for themselves. In other words, let Navigator share space with IE on the Windows shelf, er, platform. As the cliche goes, Bill, put your money where your mouth is. Yeah, let the people choose! Of course, there's this problem with the cleverly designed Win98/IE4. Judging from my experience having IE4 laying around NT4, at least 10meg of it ends up being loaded all the time if you do the "desktop update", I don't even want to think about hyperactive desktop. Maybe you can run Win98 in "classic Windows" mode, I wonder though. Of course IE's going to "load" faster if ends up pinned in memory because every little thing uses it. Dem Microsofties ain't dumb, I tell ya. Technically dubious, but the business plan rules. On the "sucker" theory of Win98, I figure it's got to be a better deal as an upgrade than Win95. Not only does it suck less, but if you figure that Win95 came bundled with everything shipped after Aug. 95, there must have been a lot of Win95 bought for pretty anemic machines. What was a top end machine before then, a P60 or P90 with 16 meg or something? Most common upgrade candidate was probably an 8 meg 486 more likely. Must have been a pretty sad experience trying to get something out of a 486 with 8meg and that famously grotty retail release. Cheers, Dan.

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (19667)	5/23/1998 9:08:00 PM
From: Harvey Allen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

Another summary article. Same issue I think. economist.com It ends: The firm could be left with its monopoly of the desktop PC-but big fully-featured operating systems like Windows might come to seem like IBM's mainframes, important only as one element in a computing world of great diversity. With hindsight, then, the case could seem beside the point, an instance of generals continuing to fight the previous war. But for now, and on the basis of the evidence revealed so far, it is justified.