:InfoWorld: Microsoft exec says company feared browser comparisons
InfoWorld: Microsoft exec says company feared browser comparisons Feb 12, 1999, 14 :34 UTC (0 Talkback[s]) (967 reads)
"Microsoft feared its Web browser would lose out in "side-by-side
comparisons" to rival products and so it required ISPs to distribute
Microsoft's browser to 85 percent of customers..."
"You were concerned that if you presented users with a choice, side by
side, they would pick the Netscape browser rather than yours?'' Boies
asked.
"Yes, that's right," Myhrvold conceded. He added that Microsoft was late,
or a "Johnny-come-lately" to the browser market.
"The concession was made during a day of tough questioning about scores of
agreements Microsoft entered into with the world's largest ISPs starting in
1996, in which the company required distribution of its browser to an
overwhelming majority of customers. In order to sew up that distribution
channel, Microsoft was even willing to pay ISPs to switch from distributing
Netscape's popular Navigator browser and pay "bounties" for each ISP
customer converted from Netscape to Microsoft. Under the contracts signed
with scores of ISPs, the companies could be kicked off the Windows desktop
or out of Microsoft's Internet referral system if they failed to meet IE
distribution targets of 50 percent to 85 percent of customers."
