07/01/96 BROWSERS: THE RACE HEATS UP

BROWSERS: THE RACE HEATS UP
Microsoft's new Internet Explorer will give Netscape a run for its money
Not too long ago, a browser was just someone who hung around a bookstore without buying anything. Now, thanks to the World Wide Web and the explosion of Web technology on corporate networks, the browser has turned into a pretty indispensable piece of software.
Both Netscape Communications and Microsoft are finishing up work on their latest browsers to navigate the Web. And both have made these once humble programs into versatile tools. (Test versions of the browsers are available for downloading from home.netscape.com and www.microsoft.com/ie/.)
Netscape Navigator 3.0, with commercial release scheduled for July, is an incremental improvement on the already very good 2.0 version. Internet Explorer 3.0, which should be released in late summer, is a huge leap from Microsoft's mediocre current model. This is the first browser that gives Netscape real competition.
GROUP EFFORT. The most notable new feature in Navigator is CoolTalk, which allows voice conversations, typed chat, and the sharing of ``white-board'' screens. These screens let people take turns making changes in a drawing or in text while others watch. Netscape has also added a security feature called digital signatures that automatically identifies you to servers, a crucial step for business transactions on the Net. The new browser runs faster, has improved multimedia abilities, and is much more efficient at running network applications written in Sun Microsystems' Java language.
Microsoft's current Internet Explorer 2.0 lacks many of the features of even Netscape's Navigator 2.0, such as the ability to split a screen into multiple, independent ``frames.'' The new version, however, matches Netscape 3.0 feature for feature--then adds a few of its own. Its basic screen setup, which will instantly feel comfortable to Windows 95 users, is very flexible, allowing you to customize, resize, and move tool bars and menus. In addition to voice, chat, and white-board sharing, Microsoft NetMeeting lets two or more people on the Internet work together in a Windows application, such as Microsoft Word or Lotus 1-2-3. And Internet Explorer has a built-in feature that allows parents to cut off kids' access to undesirable sites.
I have to reserve judgment on several Internet Explorer features, including support for Java and the digitalsignatures security feature, because they won't work until a second test version is released, perhaps by the end of June. But a new Microsoft technology called ActiveX does work, and it is likely to pose a major challenge to Java, at least in the Windows world.
JAVA BANDWAGON. The stage is now set for a major battle for your desktop between Netscape and Microsoft. Netscape, which sells primarily to companies, thinks that corporate systems departments will favor Navigator because it offers less reliance on Microsoft and because it works more or less identically on a variety of systems, including Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX. Netscape says that it has no intention of supporting ActiveX. ``This is not what we see happening,'' says product manager Eckart Walther. ``In reality, the whole market is moving toward Java.''
Microsoft, which is giving its browser away, is appealing directly to end users, whether in the home or in Corporate America. It also has struck deals to make its latest Internet Explorer the browser of choice on both America Online and CompuServe. And by the end of the year, Microsoft will release a new version of Win95 and Windows NT, code-named Nashville, that will make Internet Explorer part of the Windows desktop. Of course, Netscape is betting that you'll prefer Navigator anyway. But if Microsoft can deliver on its promises in timely fashion--always a big if--I'm not sure you'll see any need to go beyond Internet Explorer.
BY STEPHEN H. WILDSTROM