By Nick Wingfield
May 30, 1996, 11:45 a.m. PST
Microsoft is preparing to
introduce a Unix version of its Internet Explorer browser, a
move that might help the company
compete more aggressively with Netscape
Communications in cross-platform
environments.
Microsoft is consulting with
unnamed Unix vendors to pick a partner for building the
Unix browser, but it hasn't made
any decisions yet about whom it will work with, said
Yusuf Mehdi, group product
manager for Internet Explorer. "We're having a Unix
bake-off," he said.
A Unix version of Internet
Explorer would be an important strategic technology for
Microsoft because it would place
the company's browser on all three major PC desktops:
Windows, Macintosh, and Unix. But
the release of a Unix product would also be a
significant departure from the
company's usual focus of developing software that will sell
more of the Windows operating
system.
Mehdi characterized the decision
to create a Unix version of Internet Explorer as one of
the many "religious issues" that
Microsoft has had to address as part of its new emphasis
on Internet technology.
Another example is the release of
the Macintosh version of Internet Explorer earlier this
year, complete with support for
Netscape plug-ins, even though the Windows version
won't have this feature until
Explorer 3.0 is released late this summer. To develop the
Macintosh version of the browser,
Microsoft hired a number of experienced Mac
developers who had previously
worked for Claris, a software company owned by Apple
Computer. It might adopt a
similar strategy for the Unix version, although Mehdi said
that no decisions had yet been
reached.
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