ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 24, 1996 TAG: 9608260033
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SEATTLE
SOURCE: Associated Press
MICROSOFT'S EXPLORER is used by only about 10 percent of Web browsers, while Netscape's Navigator is used by about 80 percent.
Don't expect Jay Leno monologues, prime-time TV ads or flashy new colors on the Empire State Building. The one-year anniversary of Microsoft Corp.'s release of Windows 95 promises to be a much quieter, less glitzy affair.
Microsoft estimates that 40 million copies of the software, a revamping of the company's popular operating system for personal computers, have been sold since its release in August 1995 amidst a $30 million publicity blitz.
That makes it the fastest-selling computer software product in history.
But as the hoopla over Windows 95 has faded, so has some of its importance as a fierce battle arises on another front of computing: the Internet. Microsoft, based in suburban Redmond, is taking on Netscape Communications Corp. of Mountainview, Calif., in the race to set a standard for ``browsing'' the World Wide Web.
Browser programs allow people to find, work with and display information from the Web. Netscape's Navigator is used by about 80 percent of people who browse the Web. Microsoft's Explorer is used by about 10 percent but is rapidly making inroads.
``The Internet almost immediately overshadowed Win 95 after it was shipped last year, with the browser being the most tangible product associated with the Internet,'' said Dwight Davis, editor of the independent monthly newsletter Windows Watcher.
Both companies released new versions of their products in the past two weeks.
Netscape and others believe the browser can eventually replace the operating system as the platform around which software developers and computer system designers fashion their products.
But while Microsoft says Web browsing just makes Windows 95 that much more attractive, the company has had to move fast to keep up with its Internet competitors.
``The incredible and rapid growth of the Internet is an amazing phenomenon that the whole company is being reorganized to handle,'' said Jonathan Roberts, marketing director for Windows 95 and its big brother, Windows NT.
The need to get the latest browser software into the marketplace has Microsoft planning to rip open boxes of Windows 95 to update the Explorer software.
Whether Microsoft succeeds in eventually eliminating the need for a stand-alone browser and secures the pre-eminence of its operating systems remains to be seen, but it has deep pockets and a dominance of the PC business that seems to help it get its way.
``Microsoft isn't an 800-pound gorilla, they're like a whole colony of 800-pound gorillas,'' said industry analyst Frank Catalano.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 linesby CNB