bruceb news

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that America Online has continued to use Microsoft Internet Explorer as its browser engine, even though it acquired Netscape last year – pretty ironic, eh?

Well, an even better commentary on Netscape’s software skills comes today from the offices of Time Warner. After the merger with AOL, Time Warner issued an edict to all of its divisions requiring them to use AOL’s email services – software developed by Netscape, running on AOL’s public servers.

It has been a disaster. “Management got months of complaints from both senior and junior executives in the divisions involved, who said the e-mail system, initially designed for consumers, wasn’t appropriate for business use. […] continued

Microsoft has rolled up all the security fixes for Internet Explorer from the last few months and put them in a single download. This is a highly recommended update for everyone. There are various versions for Internet Explorer 5.01, 5.5, and 6.0. Here’s the page with information about the various fixes and instructions for downloading the update.

The media played up the lawsuit Netscape filed against Microsoft a couple of days ago. The allegation is that Microsoft damaged Netscape by preventing the Netscape browser from competing fairly in the marketplace. Presumably the damages are the lost profits from the Netscape browser. I was amused by the assumption that Netscape will be awarded hundreds of millions of dollars (or billions, in some news reports) for its lost profits.

Who knows? Maybe that will come true. But think about three things while you read the stories.

- During the time Netscape and Internet Explorer were competing, can you recall any advertising by Netscape whatsoever?

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Microsoft released a huge patch for Internet Explorer 5.5 and 6 today. It is highly recommended that everyone install this patch immediately. It is a cumulative patch that includes all previous security updates for IE, and adds protection against three new vulnerabilities that were just discovered. Here’s an article about the patch, and here’s the Microsoft page where you can get it.

Microsoft is fond of saying it actually encourages competition by developing programs that can be customized. Yahoo has stepped up and released a clever bit of software that will put those claims to the test.

Yahoo Essentials customizes Internet Explorer in several ways: it takes over searches in the browser address bar, it switches the default e-mail client to Yahoo Mail, it embeds its instant messenger within the IE window, it adds a Yahoo toolbar below the standard IE menu, it places a shortcut to Yahoo Mail on the PC desktop and it offers to set the home page to Yahoo.com. […] continued

Internet security is the buzzword of the moment. There’s a lot of paranoia about privacy these days. Some of it is justified.

For what it’s worth, I tend to think that cookies do not currently deserve much paranoia. There are hypothetical ways in which information from cookies could be used in insidious ways by advertisers, but I’m not aware of anything like that happening in the real world – at least not yet.

Cookies are little files left on your computer while you visit various web sites. When Amazon greets you by name and remembers your shopping cart, that’s the result of reading a cookie on your computer. […] continued

No rush, but if you’re interested Microsoft released Internet Explorer 6 today. It addresses some additional privacy concerns, supposedly including a cookie manager of some sort. I’ve gotta go check it out.

According to this article, Netscape will essentially get out of the browser business soon. Its web site will be turned into an Internet media hub to showcase Time Warner artists and publications. Keep your eye on AOL Time Warner’s plans to cross-market all of its different businesses. It promises to be an overwhelming experience, marketing and advertising on a level we’ve never seen before.

Google continues to provide search results that are so accurate that it’s spooky. It bears repeating – as much as I hate screen clutter, I recommend the Google Toolbar, a browser addon that puts a slender Google search bar across the top of the screen. Not only do you get easy access to Google, it also lets you search for words on the page you’re viewing at that moment, as well as allowing you to search only the pages of the web site you’re visiting. Google has also introduced a Google Web Directory that mimics Yahoo, if you prefer that approach to the Web. […] continued