Microsoft noticed once Netscape went public that the Internet was the wave on the future. Not the pen computing that they had been betting on. Hence, they moved development of the Internet Explorer into high gear.
Netscape had the jump start. Like Microsoft had become the household name for operating systems, Netscape has now become the household name for Internet browsers. Microsoft is trying to take way from the 80% of the market Netscape has but they have not been that successful.
If you compare the scenario to the operating system battle it looks the same. Microsoft came out of nowhere and grabbed an 80% share of the market. Then a large company, IBM, one that had become a household name in computing, tried to use its power to take away market share. Hence, they came out with OS/2. OS/2 did take some of the market share but it did not make a puncture in the precedent Microsoft had set in operating system development.
This battle is the same. Netscape came out of nowhere and grabbed an 80% market share in the browser market. The mighty Microsoft is trying to use its power to upstage the precedent set by Netscape and although they have done well, they are a far way from their goal.
Can MSFT catch up with NSCP? Will Internet Explorer become the household name in browsers? Will NSCP take MSFT out of the Internet picture and explode into a company, like MSFT with 70 billion in market capital? Will NSCP become the older of the Internet broser and server industry, showing everyone the path to follow.
What Browser will come out on top.
Matthew Hartley |
