For most Windows users, "browser" means "Internet Explorer"

There is no marketplace for Web browsers.

technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

A sad fact: For most Windows users, "browser" means "Internet Explorer"

Dec. 19, 1999

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©1999, Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©1999, The Syracuse Newspapers

   "What browser are you using?" Gene Wolf asked a caller on our radio show this month.
   "Five," the caller said.
   The government could have used the transcript of that call for evidence in its case against Microsoft. Gene asked for the name of the software; the caller gave the version number of the only Web browser most Windows users have ever run, Internet Explorer. By "five," he meant he was using Internet Explorer 5.
   That's Microsoft Internet Explorer, as you undoubtedly know by now if you have a PC. With only a few recent exceptions, every PC sold in this country in the last four years has come with Internet Explorer. It's so pervasive that it's become synonymous with "Web browser."
   There were many browsers a few years ago. For most Windows users, now there is only one. For most Windows users, the other browsers don't count or don't even exist.
   It's easy to see this as just another example of one product beating out a bunch of others in the marketplace. But that's not what happened. There is no marketplace for Web browsers.
   Microsoft jimmied the design of Windows to make us believe Internet Explorer was essential. Microsoft wanted us to believe running Windows without Internet Explorer is unthinkable, and most of the folks who write about computers believed this malarky right from the start. (Yes, I count myself as one of the stupid ones.)
   There's no marketplace for Web browsers. There are no Web browser stores, no Web browser aisles in Sears or Best Buy. Most people who turn on their new PCs for the first time expect to be able to go to Web sites as soon as they log on to an Internet provider's service. You buy a car and expect a radio to come with it. You buy a PC and expect to get a Web browser, too.
   Netscape Communications suffered most from Microsoft's decision to make Internet Explorer a vital part of Windows instead of an interesting part. Netscape's founders created the first successful Web browser, a program called Mosaic. When they came up with Netscape, they were so proud of it they gave it away.
   You could buy Netscape's browser if you really tried, but everybody who shared a few beers with the Netscape founders came away with an understanding that Netscape had two kinds of customers: Ones who got the browser for free, such as students, and ones who got the browser without paying anything -- meaning everyone else. If you filled out a form on the Netscape site and said you were a student or teacher, you got the browser free, no questions about it. If you didn't qualify, you got the browser free for as long as you wanted to use it. You caught on right away that this was a Netscape game.
   This upset Microsoft. It had always made money by -- well, by making money, by charging people for things. In the mid-1990s, Netscape Communications was making itself famous (and positioning itself to get rich later, maybe) by giving things away. Microsoft responded by giving its browser away, too, and by incorporating Internet Explorer into Windows as part of the operating system.
   So Netscape became the first casualty in the browser war. Netscape Communications had 80 to 90 percent of the browser market the month that Windows 95 was introduced in the fall of 1995. Its market share fell so low this fall that two companies that track the use of Web browsers both declared Netscape all but dead. They both decided to stop tracking new installations of Netscape's browser because consumers and corporations had switched almost entirely to Internet Explorer.
   But the federal suit against Microsoft has given Netscape's browser a second chance. The people who work at Netscape are getting ready to introduce a new version of their browser, Netscape 5. The current browser, Netscape 4.7, can be downloaded as part of a suite of Netscape Internet programs (called Netscape Communicator) or as a separate browser, Netscape 4.08. (The numbering scheme is confusing, but you don't need to remember the numbers. The Netscape site at http://www.netscape.com always has the current programs for free downloading.)
   Netscape's browser is available for Macintosh computers, for Linux PCs and, of course, for Windows PCs. In most ways, it works the way Internet Explorer does. Major differences include the use of "bookmarks" in Netscape instead of Internet Explorer's "favorites" for storing Web-page addresses (the technical differences between the two are worthy of a separate article) and, more importantly, much tighter security in Netscape.
   The complete Netscape suite, Netscape Communicator, comes in a very large download. Unless you have a fast connection, transferring the file will take a long time. Choose the SmartUpdate method if you have a hard time getting the file. (It will restart the download if things go wrong.)