Microsoft Enters the Browser Market
The primary motivation for Microsoft to enter the browser market was the fear of losing their monopolistic advantage in the Operating System market. They saw the internet as a method by which tools such as the browser would usurp the dominance of the Windows operating systems. Microsoft realised that the browser could in effect open the way for server based application sharing, thus bypassing the operating systems as a hosting mechanism for the applications. Brad Silverberg a senior Microsoft vice president identified that the internet was a powerful medium that could be dangerous to Microsoft. ... As a result Bill Gates, the President and CEO of Microsoft issued the now infamous “Internet Tidal Wave” memo where he rallied the troops to refocus their attentions on the Internet. This paranoia was further compounded in the way that other software industry players attempted to break the Microsoft dominance. ... Both options based their approach on a browser based method of accessing the network. The browser was pioneered at the University of Illinois’ National Center for Supercomputing. ... Christensen suggested that technology innovations such as the browser were “new market” disruption innovations; giving access to the internet through a graphical user interface, whereas previously the access point was through bulletin boards or newsgroups, which were predominantly DOS and text based. Windows was at the time the primary vehicle for the proliferation of the browser for PC users. Netscape also has written or ported their browser software to numerous other platforms including several flavours of UNIX, VMS, Solaris, OS/2 and Macintosh making the interoperability of the Network Computer and Java technologies a very real prospect, but more importantly giving all computer users a method of viewing, retrieving, and publishing information to the fledgling internet. The existence of Netscape and the “early mover” success they enjoyed was the trigger for Microsoft to take action.