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The results were phenomenal. Microsoft critics, who had bet that Explorer 3.0 would be no more than too-little, too-late Internet technology, were silenced by the program's sheer undeniable quality. The browser's slick interface drew on Microsoft's years of consumer-products research. And though there were flaws--it has several prominent security holes, and no Macintosh version is in sight--3.0 had brightly colored, easy-to-use buttons, was cleverly designed and ran smoothly with Windows 95. In short, the thing looked like a high-grade consumer product.
The shift in attitudes was immediate. The day Explorer 3.0 hit the streets, Netizens began to create an approving buzz. And from around the Net, where Netscape had long trumpeted its 85% market share, word began to leak back that Microsoft browsers were accounting for 30%, then 40% and by last week 60% of the hits on some servers. Though Netscape still indisputably has the larger proportion of browsers, Microsoft reported that more than a million people downloaded Explorer 3.0 in its first week online, overwhelming the company's specially beefed-up servers. And while Netscape is starting to charge more aggressively for its browser, Gates insists Explorer will continue to be free or, in his words, "priced to sell." Don't mistake that for an act of charity. Netscape's Department of Justice letter charged that a Microsoft executive told a gathering of developers this spring, "Our intent is to flood the market with free Internet software and squeeze Netscape until they run out of cash."
And beginning this Christmas, Web surfers will be able to boot up Explorer 4.0. Though the software for the program is still in its infant stage in Redmond, TIME got a sneak preview. The new browser is fully integrated with the computer desktop. Users will turn on their computers and be presented not with an ungainly collection of files and folders but with a lush desktop that includes the latest news, instant access to content from across the Web, and a specialized version of the browser that looks at both local files and data from around the Web. Explorer 4.0, when it ships, will complete the unification of the computer and the Web. It will also make Explorer 3.0, the hot technology of the moment, obsolete.
And that's where the real struggle in this battle lies. Netscape and Microsoft are competing not against each other so much as against their own obsolescence. The victor will be not the company with the best browser but the team that can run the longest on this insanely fast product-development treadmill.
In fact, the Netscape-Microsoft battle may be our first good look at information-age corporate warfare. Where industrial-age triumph was once measured in steamships built or in miles of rail track laid, victory today means little more than the right to come back and fight again tomorrow.
Nathan Myhrvold, the physics Ph.D. who is one of Gates' most trusted deputies, told Time a year ago that "no matter how good your product, you are only 18 months away from failure." He was wrong. That span has been cut to six months. And shrinking.
--Reported by David S. Jackson/Redmond