ARTS & FARCES internet

In December 1995, caught with its corporate trousers around its ankles with regard to the Internet and its fast acceptance by computer users, Microsoft announced its comprehensive Internet strategy. If the idea of yet another Microsoft hegemony bothers you, be worried. Be very worried. Microsoft, according to Bill Gates, intends to add Internet functionality to almost every one of its software programs and both of its operating systems. Most observers agree that Microsoft’s position is a sound one and that the December 1995 announcements—which took place on the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor—are nothing less than a declaration of war against Netscape, Sun, and anyone else who dares muster an opposition to Microsoft’s domination.

Internet Explorer

Bill Gates virtually assured the entire computing community that the Web browser market will remain a “zero-revenue business” when he stated that Microsoft would bundle its Internet Explorer Web browser with its operating system software and continue to make the browser available free of charge on the Internet.

Microsoft intends to compete on features as well as price in the Web browser market. Gates announced that Microsoft is developing a number of new features for its Internet Explorer product in order to make the browser more intuitive and easy-to-use for novices. DocObjects, for example, is roughly analogous to Netscape’s plug-in technology and will use Microsoft’s Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) technology to let another program display its information within the browser window.

When asked about Microsoft’s approach to overtaking Netscape, Gates said Microsoft’s strategy would be to “embrace and extend.” That’s Gates-speak for Microsoft’s standard operating procedure: copy when possible; innovate only when absolutely necessary. Come to think of it, that’s been Netscape’s approach so far as well. Surprisingly, as of late January 1996, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was incompatible with Windows NT, its flagship operating system.

An initial beta version of Internet Explorer for Macintosh was released in late January 1996 and promises to be stiff competition for Netscape, the current market leader, with a 70% share of a “zero-revenue business.”

Internet Assistant

Internet Assistant is a freeware add-on to Microsoft Word for Windows and Word for Windows 95. It adds capable HTML editing capabilities to Microsoft’s word processing environment. There’s no reason why Internet Assistant can’t evolve into the most powerful HTML editor available. A Macintosh version of Internet Assistant was demonstrated at Macworld/San Francisco in early January 1996 but is still unavailable as of this writing.

Internet Studio

Microsoft executives also announced that Internet Studio—the company’s high-end authoring tool, formerly known by its Blackbird code name—would no longer be a proprietary development environment for Microsoft Network. Instead, Internet Studio will be repositioned as an Internet-specific authoring tool and released later in 1996. Internet Studio will employ standard HTML with proprietary extensions.

Web View

Some would say Microsoft has become obsessed with the notion of the World Wide Web, perhaps as a result of the company’s being left at the gate in the earliest stages. Microsoft has announced plans to add a “Web View” to its Windows operating system software, enabling users to display the contents of their workspaces as HTML files. Windows folders will appear as Web pages. In addition, future versions of the Microsoft Office application suite will include support for HTML output from all of its component applications—a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation package, and database. Microsoft’s HTML Wizard, released in November 1995, is the first step in this direction.

Microsoft Internet Information Server

Microsoft’s Windows NT-based Web server—previously known under the code name “Gibralter”—was initially scheduled for availability in the third or fourth quarter of 1996. With an accelerated development cycle, the product—now known as Microsoft Internet Information Server—should be available by the end of February 1996. The big news is that the basic version of the server product will be integrated within Microsoft’s Windows NT Server software. Microsoft will probably charge for server add-ons like secure transaction support, content management, and order processing, although the company has not yet announced its pricing policy. There’s a small chance that some add-ons will be freely distributed to further increase the adoption of Microsoft’s Windows NT Server product within the Internet service provider community.

Java license

While Microsoft admits it has signed a non-binding letter of intent (and has also stated publicly that it intends to exercise its letter of intent) to license the Java programming language from Sun Microsystems, the company downplays that part of its Internet strategy. Instead, Microsoft executives tout the company’s Visual Basic Script, Microsoft’s own Web programming language, and its huge installed base of Visual Basic users. From Microsoft’s perspective, Java is a threat because it runs on the Internet; not on a Microsoft operating system.

Analysis

Netscape has clearly positioned itself as the leading Web browser vendor (Netscape claims more than 85 percent of the browser market; the truth is probably closer to 70 percent). Problem is there’s not much money to be made in free products, and in order to retain its lead, Netscape will have to make its Navigator browser available at no charge to all users, not just academic users. Nevertheless, Netscape’s early and demanding lead put Microsoft in an underdog position it’s never before occupied. Nevertheless, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Web browser is very impressive for such a young product; if Netscape blinks it may be caught like a deer in Microsoft’s headlights. Netscape’s lack of Java applet support in its Macintosh version of Netscape Navigator 2.0 is the company’s first serious mistake and similar time lags seem to be accompanying the release of a Macintosh version of its Netscape Navigator Gold browser/editor product.

The Web server market is wide open, and Microsoft’s move to build a Web server into its Windows NT operating system gives it a very strong edge. The question remains, though, whether or not Microsoft can leverage its commanding 80 percent market share of the desktop market onto the Internet.

Microsoft’s ability to corner the market for content-development tools is less certain because the company is notorious for preying upon small company innovations. That may work well in the desktop market but is arguably incompatible with the Internet market. Microsoft’s Internet Studio is impressive but not very innovative and the company has already shown some reluctance about abandoning its installed base of Visual Basic programmers to chase the Java grail. But with more than 1,000 Java applets already available, Java has already demonstrated a significant mindshare within the Internet development community. Most of the Java early adopters are fiercely independent and will resist any attempt by Microsoft to even enter the market, let alone control it.