Netscape, Microsoft u.a. (fwd)

["H. Bork" <bork _at__ plb.de>]

aus: "Ask Dr. Internet" for February, 1998, mfg hbk 
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Q2.
More About the Microsoft Internet Explorer Wars

A2.
MICROSOFT AVOIDS CONTEMPT CITATION
Microsoft has agreed to offer PC manufacturers the latest version of its
Windows 95 software without requiring them also to install the company's
Internet Explorer software for browsing the Internet.  This action settles
one part of a larger antitrust suit brought against Microsoft by the U.S.
Justice Department, and lets the company avoid a contempt of court citation
from U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson.  (AP 22 Jan 98)

MICROSOFT BROWSER STRATEGY IN EUROPE
Deflating the antitrust inquiry begun by the European Commission, Microsoft
has announced that contracts with European providers of Internet services
will be revised to drop Microsoft's requirements that the service providers
offer their customers the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser as a
condition for being listed in the Windows 95 operating system.  Microsoft
claims that the action is an independent business decision, unrelated to
the EC's antitrust inquiry. (New York Times 22 Jan 98)

and

MICROSOFT'S DOMINANCE
A new survey of 300 corporate executives by Olsten Staffing Service shows
the extent of Microsoft's expanding dominance in the software business.
Since 1995, the percentage of survey respondents who used Microsoft Word
has grown from 43% to 80%, whereas the percentage using rival product
WordPerfect dropped from 61% to 21%.  During the same period, comparable
statistics for spreadsheet, groupware, and presentation graphics software
were:  Microsoft Excel rose from 44% to 79%, in contrast to Lotus 1-2-3's
fall from 65% to 27%;  Microsoft Exchange rose from 19% to 32%, in contrast
to the fall of Lotus Notes from 49% to 31%;  and Microsoft Powerpoint rose
from 18% to 86%, in contrast to Harvard Graphics' fall from 27% to 3%.
Microsoft attributes its success to its "consistency of delivering better
products in the marketplace," whereas critics of the company attribute it
to the power of "bundling" - packaging separate products into the software
suite called Microsoft Office.  (USA Today 22 Jan 98)

and

JUSTICE TARGETS MICROSOFT CONTENT PLANS
The U.S. Justice Department, already at odds with Microsoft over the
inclusion of its Internet Explorer software in its Windows operating system,
now is suggesting that the company's plans for providing Internet content
could possibly violate antitrust laws.  "The best way to make people switch
browsers is to make sure they have to, in order to get the best content,"
said a Microsoft VP in a 1996 memo.  The latest version of Microsoft's
Internet Explorer and Windows 98 create attractive "channels" for content
suppliers that appear on the PC user's initial screen.  Justice will
investigate deals that Microsoft cut with its most prominent content
suppliers requiring media companies to customize their sites with
Microsoft's technology and commit to promotional plans that advocate
Microsoft's browser over Netscape's.  (Wall Street Journal 13 Feb 98)

and

MICROSOFT MOVES BROWSER UNIT INTO WINDOWS GROUP
Under fire from the Justice Department for integrating its Internet Explorer
Web browser into its Windows operating system, Microsoft has quietly shifted
its browser business group into the unit that develops and markets its
Windows system.  Analysts agree that regardless of the outcome of the
antitrust case, it makes sense to consolidate the business units.  "Internet
Explorer is an integrated product," says a financial analyst at Nationsbanc
Montgomery Securities Inc.  "You better integrate the reporting
responsibilities."  (New York Times 6 Feb 98)

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