Microsoft Introduces Web Browser Internet Explorer 4.0 Blurs Line Between Internet And Pcs

Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday unveiled new Web browser software that obscures the boundary between personal computers and the Internet, promising to alter how people manage desktop files and cruise the Web.

Microsoft, in its latest challenge to cyber-foe Netscape, is trying to make its software the starting point for PC users of all walks, including surfers of the World Wide Web.

The new Internet Explorer 4.0, by working closely with Microsoft’s Windows 95 operating software, lets people easily point and click between desktop files and Web sites. Icons for both PC files and far-flung Web pages get similar prominence, turning the computer screen into a viewfinder for both the Internet and hard-drive information.

The browser also incorporates “push” technology, sending tailored Web information directly to one’s desktop so that users don’t have to search for what they need. This matches the feature of latest Netscape Navigator browser, released four months ago.

Analysts said Microsoft’s browser advances, combined with the dominance of Windows on the PC, will help Microsoft gain more ground on Netscape Communications.

“This is a monumental step for Microsoft … and a tremendous challenge for Netscape,” said industry watcher Gary Arlen, who is president of Arlen Communications Inc. in Bethesda, Md.

Netscape’s Navigator remains the most popular software for getting around the Internet, the vast global mesh of computer networks. But Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has made inroads; according to various estimates, its share of the browser market has jumped to as much as 36 percent from about 10 percent a year ago.

Microsoft has said it hopes to capture half the market with Internet Explorer 4.0.

But Netscape isn’t standing idly by. It is working on technology, code-named Aurora, that it says does a better job than the new Internet Explorer at integrating PC programs with the Internet and private computer networks. Aurora is due out next year as part of a major update of Communicator, a package of business-oriented programs including Navigator.

Netscape also underscores that Navigator will work on computers running different operating systems - Macintosh, Unix and older versions of Windows. Internet Explorer 4.0, released first for Windows 95 and Windows NT, will not be available right away for Windows 3.1 or non-Microsoft operating systems.

“Microsoft and Netscape are leading the industry in different directions,” said Bob Lisbonne, Netscape vice president of product marketing.

“Microsoft is trying to tie the Internet to the latest edition of Windows. … Netscape provides (consistency).”

Both Netscape and Microsoft are showing their wares at the weeklong Seybold Publishing Conference in San Francisco.

For Microsoft, the browser war with Netscape is about more than the software. The company wants to be the entry point for all aspects of computing, whether on a stand-alone PC or linked to the Internet or other networks.

“Microsoft has long said the future of the browser is, and should be, not as a distinct product but a viewing metaphor - files and the Internet merging into one entity,” said Harry Fenik, an analyst with Zona Research Inc.

Microsoft’s Windows operating software runs 80 percent of all personal computers. Several major PC companies already have said they will include Internet Explorer 4.0 with new computers in time for the holidays.

Microsoft also doesn’t charge for its browser. Netscape sells Navigator either alone or as part of a “suite” of programs for businesses, but many computer users get it free by downloading it from the Internet.

The Microsoft browser also can be set to let users move about Windows with forward and back buttons, just as they move from one Web page to another. Web pages also can be dragged from the browser into Windows.

Fuller integration of the desktop and networks also will be a key feature of Windows 98, the upgrade to Windows 95 which will be released by next summer.

While the smaller Netscape lacks the clout of Microsoft - the world’s largest independent software company - it is trying to prosper by continuing to focus on offering a range of network software and services for business, of which its browser is a part.