MICROSOFT PACKAGE UPS ANTE IN WEB BROWSER WAR.Byline: John Markoff
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Raising the competitive stakes to a rich new level in its World Wide Web browser The program that serves as your front end to the Web on the Internet. In order to view a site, you type its address (URL) into the browser's Location field; for example, www.computerlanguage.com, and the home page of that site is downloaded to you. war with the Netscape Communications Corp., Microsoft Corp. announced deals late Monday providing for two of the Internet's most popular financial news and sports services to be bundled free into a new version of Microsoft's browsing software. Even though Netscape's Web browser, Netscape Navigator An earlier Web browser for Windows, Macintosh and X Windows from Netscape that provided secure transmission over the Internet. Soon after its introduction in 1994, Navigator, or just "Netscape," as it was commonly called, quickly became the leading browser on the Web. , is used by more than 85 percent of computer users for viewing information on the World Wide Web, Microsoft is aiming to make its Internet Explorer Microsoft's Web browser, which comes with Windows starting with Windows 98. Commonly called "IE," versions for Mac and Unix are also available. Internet Explorer is the most widely used Web browser on the market. It has also been the browser engine in AOL's Internet access software. software the market leader. Monday's deals and Microsoft's $7 billion in cash on hand - which generate more in interest than Netscape has in annual revenues - demonstrate just how formidable a competitor the world's largest software company can be. Also, Monday's developments are an attempt by Microsoft to take Web-browser software beyond a navigational tool by building in some popular destinations. The new software, Internet Explorer Version 3.0, which Microsoft planned to begin distributing free on the Internet at midnight Monday, will give users automatic and free access to the daily Wall Street Journal Interactive edition, which normally costs up to $49 a year, and to the popular ESPNet Sport Zone, which usually charges for its services a la carte. ``In some sense this is a volume deal,'' said Brad Chase Brad Chase is a fictional lawyer, portrayed by Mark Valley, on the ABC television series Boston Legal. David E. Kelley, the creator of Boston Legal, Chase went to Dartmouth College for his Undergraduate studies, according to a diploma on the set of his office. , the Microsoft vice president in charge of Internet browsers. ``We feel very excited about this giving us a better browser.'' The new services, along with several similar packages also announced late Monday, puts added pressure on Netscape, which intends to introduce a new version of its Navigator browser next Monday. ``The operative word in the Microsoft Internet strategy is `free,' '' said George Colony, president of Forrester Research Forrester Research is an independent technology and market research company that provides its clients with advice about technology's impact on business and consumers. Corporate facts
consulting company business firm, firm, house - the members of a business organization that owns or operates one or more establishments; "he worked for a in Cambridge, Mass. ``Microsoft is slashing and burning their way into this market.'' Web site publishers have from the beginning seen such deals as an additional source of revenue, to complement advertising and circulation. ``The software producers are now to some degree acting like on-line services,'' said Tom Baker, the business director of The Wall Street Journal Interactive edition. Under The Journal deal, Internet Explorer customers will get the Journal Interactive edition free through the end of the year. The Journal site only began charging new subscribers early this month; the more than 40,000 subscribers who signed up before then are still using the service on a free trial. |
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