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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Michael Kucera who wrote (17924)	3/13/1999 1:10:00 AM
From: puborectalis	Respond to of 74651

Microsoft to Unveil New Version of Internet Explorer Browser Bloomberg News March 12, 1999, 5:33 p.m. PT Microsoft to Unveil New Version of Internet Explorer Browser Redmond, Washington, March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp., the No. 1 software maker, will introduce the newest version of its Internet Explorer browser on Thursday in a bid to take market share from Netscape Communications Corp. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates will introduce IE 5.0, which the company says is faster, easier to use and better equipped for interactive use of the World Wide Web. The free browser will be available for download on the Web beginning Thursday. Microsoft and Netscape claim about half the browser market each, though Microsoft's share includes the 16 million subscribers belonging to America Online Inc., which now owns Netscape. AOL is widely expected to dump Internet Explorer, increasing the pressure on Microsoft. ''All of a sudden you're going to see the market share of IE severely diminished, when they jump ship,'' said Seamus McAteer, an analyst at Jupiter Communications Inc. ''They'll have to do everything they can'' to fill the gap, he said. No one partner can fill AOL's place, McAteer said. ''All the other potential partners combined equal AOL,'' he said. Instead, Microsoft is pushing IE 5.0 for the corporate market. Microsoft said this week that companies including drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co., broker Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and computer maker Compaq Computer Corp. plan to use IE 5.0 on a total of 300,000 desktops. Ahead of Netscape Microsoft is gaining an advantage by getting IE 5.0 out to market before Netscape's Navigator 5.0, McAteer said. ''Microsoft needs to make a ballyhoo about this because Netscape has been a little slow with Navigator 5.0,'' McAteer said. IE 5.0 is aimed at Web developers as much as consumers. It lets programmers design Web pages with interactive features. ''This is the Web coming into its own,'' said McAteer. Microsoft stands accused by the U.S. Justice Department and 19 states of trying to crush rival Netscape by extending its monopoly in computer operating systems to Internet software. Netscape once had more than 80 percent of the browser market. In the antitrust trial now in recess, Microsoft has argued that Internet Explorer is an integrated part of its operating system, not a separate product. Microsoft shares fell 1 1/4 to 160 3/16. Netscape rose 1/4 to 84 7/8. --Laura Raun in Seattle (206) 224-3173 through the San Francisco Technology industries CAD/CAM \| Communications Svcs \| Computer Svcs \| Distributors \| Internet \| Networking \| PC Hardware \| PC Software \| Peripherals \| Semiconductors \| Semi Cap Equip \| Server Hardware \| Server Software \| Storage \| Telecom Wireless \| Telecom Wireline Other industries Quote lookup by symbol by name