![]() The result: Analysts questioned Netscape's ability to compete with a company 10 times its size. Never too proud to imitate a competitor's success, Microsoft issued its own browser, the Microsoft Explorer, offered it for free over the Net, made deals to ship it with new computers and versions of America Online and CompuServe, and vowed to build Web-browsing into its Windows operating system and business software. Its shooting star has run into Planet Microsoft.įifteen months ago, the Redmond giant decided to get serious about the Internet. Once portrayed as a giddy start-up marked by roller-blade hockey matches, round-the-clock coding marathons, pizza and Jolt cola, and the mood of a college campus after midterms, the company has entered a new phase. Sales this year if things continue at their current pace, helped to spawn the phrase "Internet time," a high-speed timeline that might be compared to dog years.Ī lot of dog years have passed since Netscape's founding. ![]() ![]() Netscape's huge growth, from a handful of programmers to 1,800 employees, 10 buildings and an expected half-billion dollars in 5 that same year, making Netscape the foremost prospector in what came to be dubbed the Internet Gold Rush.Īll of this happened so fast it seems ancient history now. The value of Netscape shares swelled from $28 on the first day of its public offering, Aug. Millions of Internet users obtained Netscape Navigator over the Internet by downloading the software for free. Then Netscape, a small, Silicon Valley, Calif., company, popularized a software program called the Netscape Navigator browser. Finding just one file of information spelled a lot of time and trouble. There were no pictures, no graphics, just plain text on a blank screen. ![]() Just three years ago, navigating the Net involved typing out arcane computer commands on a keyboard. Computers near and far, collectively containing massive storehouses of information, can be tapped with the touch of a mouse button. Click in another, and you're transported down the Amazon River with an adventure expedition. For millions of Internet users, surfing the World Wide Web is as easy as channel hopping on the TV or changing lanes on the freeway.Ĭlick your computer mouse on one spot, and you're in the Lincoln Bedroom with news reports about President Clinton's campaign contributions. ![]()
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