Readers split on browser choice

Last week, as Microsoft agreed to remove its Internet Explorer from the Windows 95 operating system and Netscape Communications announced it would begin giving Navigator away free, a NEWS.COM Poll asked readers what difference these developments would make in the increasingly bloody browser wars.

Respondents were split almost exactly down the middle when asked whether these developments will result in more browser software choices in the marketplace.

Forty-nine percent of respondents answered "yes"--the combination of moves by the two browser companies will result in more options for consumers. Most readers noted that both consumers and corporate users can now base their browser decision on technology, not financial issues.

"The recent events have given users far more choice," wrote Brian Merrell. "Now price is no longer a concern, but features and performance are."

Many readers felt that Netscape's decision to release its source code is a boon to developers that Microsoft cannot match. "Netscape's graphics engine is phenomenal, always has been," responded Chris Johnson. "Now people can take bits of it and incorporate it into their own projects."

Many of the 51 percent of readers who voted "no," that the developments would not affect the browser marketplace, noted that there are just as many major browser choices this week as there were last week: two.

"I don't see the settlement between Microsoft and the Justice Department actually offering the consumer more choices in browsers," wrote Lloyd Winter. "For there to be more choices, there would have to be another alternative to Netscape and Microsoft, which at this time there isn't. "

Other naysayers pointed out that the whole concept of the browser is evolving so rapidly that last week's decisions are already outdated. "Navigator free? Too late, the game is already over, and Navigator will be useless when Win98 will be out," wrote Luc Masuy.

Then there are the cynics who will never trust what a software giant says. Most of those who took the time to explain their responses were skeptical that Microsoft's removal of the icon from the Windows desktop constituted the unbundling of Internet Explorer.

"The idea that removing the IE icon from the desktop will allow more browser control is as farcical as the Department of (in)Justice's case," concluded Mason Gravitt.