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

To: Bearded One who wrote (21812)	11/28/1998 12:09:00 AM
From: Gerald R. Lampton	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 24154

Come on, I thought you could do better than this. Maybe you are still recovering from Thanksgiving turkey and good spirits. ;) The government never made the claim that Microsoft successfully closed off all distribution channels to Netscape. The goverment made the claim that Microsoft closed off the major distribution channels to Netscape-- the OEMs, and that it did this for a particular purpose-- to control the browser market. The big distribution channel they didn't close off was the Internet. DOJ's argument on that one was that downloading browsers is too "difficult" for peon, ignorant consumers, who always take the first browser that's offered to them with their PC's. Now, we have AOL, who will basically be using using their desktop icon to ram the internet down Microsoft's throat. wired.com One surprise: AOL will keep Microsoft's Internet Explorer as the default browser within AOL's proprietary service. "We remain committed to working with Microsoft," said Case. "It is important to continue to have AOL bundled in the Windows desktop." Don't get too excited about that last sentence. It lends support to the network externalities argument, but keep in mind that AOL has its own installed base of consumers, to whom it will be promoting a different kind of software, specifically, Java. And you know Sun won't be promoting Microsoft polluted Java, nor Internet Information Server on the business and server side. (Note, in addition, the key phrase within AOL's proprietary service. This may be journalistic license, or, maybe, AOL can and will promote Navigator on its non-proprietary services, such as its web site, and to businesses who want to have their employees and customers rely on something other than IE.) No need for DOJ to force Microsoft to promote Navigator; AOL will do it for them. All they have to do is put the Navigator link on the first screen consumers see after they click the icon. And, the following little tidbit at the end of the paragraph seems to say there is nothing Microsoft can do about it: Case said only AOL has the right to back out of the arrangement. And, as access speeds increase, what, with the growth of Cable modems (AOL TV, anyone?), DSL, and all, the argument that it is just too difficult for consumers to download rival browsers will get weaker and weaker. So I guess their argument is that they can shoot at everyone, because everyone can dodge if they're smart enough. It doesn't make sense to me. Microsoft is not claiming the right to "shoot at everyone," except to the same extent as its competitors are allowed to do so. The point is, everyone plays by the same rules, until such time as antitrust law decrees that the "monopolist" should not be allowed to do so. In making this determination, the court must look at the anticompetitive effects of allowing the monopolist to continue to operate as everyone else does. If there are no anticompetitive effects, there is no reason to impose a different set of rules on the monopolist. This is the "well, the guys already dead, no use arresting anyone." I don't believe it. No, it's "no harm, no foul." The argument will be that, although competitors are dead, competition is alive and well. And AOL's acquisition of Netscape supports this argument. The further argument is that remedies, such as forcing Microsoft to carry the netscape browser, may have made sense at the beginning of the case, here we are, seven weeks into trial, and the relief that DOJ is seeking is already obsolete. So, in the words of today's Wall Street Journal editorial: "Joel Klein, You've Got Mail!" interactive.wsj.com ;) ;)