March 21, 1998

Microsoft's Internet Browser "Killer"

Through A Glass Darkly, by John Myers, Internet Photojournalist

Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice are breathing hard down Microsoft chairman Bill Gates' neck for his monopoly of the computer Operating System industry as I write this in March 1998 -- on a backup computer. My main work computer is down because its wonderful Microsoft OS, that Bill Gates creation known as Windows 95, was hosed down by the latest Microsoft technology, which the lovable Mr. Gates is trying so hard to sell to Congress and the DOJ. This "integral part" of his OS, Microsoft's web browser, Internet Explorer 4.0, is otherwise known as the Netscape Navigator web browser "killer."
Much has been written about the so-called browser war pitting I.E. vs. Navigator, but if my personal experience is any indication, Netscape's worries about survival are as minuscule as a hiccup in a whirlwind.

My troubles began with an upgrade of Email software, Eudora Pro, which we use in the business to take our Internet Website online shopping product orders at Dexter Sport Science. An added "extra" thrown in on the Eudora CD for installation was I.E. 4.0, which is presented during installation as an option. I downloaded I.E. 4.0 on my Mac at home several weeks ago and use it, though I don't particularly like it. As a Website developer, when I build a new page it's always wise to take a look at it in different browsers to make sure it looks like it's supposed to look, before I upload it onto the Web. It's wise to make sure a page looks OK in both Netscape and Microsoft browsers, both version 3 and version 4, before uploading it to the site.
But I had held off on downloading I.E. 4 for Win 95 because of a few passing mentions I had seen in Internet news accounts that it could -- just possibly in a few isolated cases -- cause problems with the Win 95 OS. And if your OS quits working, you're out of business with a computer. But now here was I.E. 4.0 on a factory CD from a reputable company whose software I knew and trusted. So surely they wouldn't give me a buggy product? Big mistake.

So I installed I.E. 4.0 along with the Eudora Pro 4.0 and guess what happens when I reboot? You get three guesses and the first two don't count. One of those "isolated cases" is now my own personal problem. My Win 95 won't start up and I get a "windows protection error." Mick Jagger's forgot the words to "Start Me Up!" and after several hours of uninstalling I.E. 4.0 and reinstalling Win 95, I'm staring at the infamous c: prompt and crying "What now, Lord?"
And you know you're in trouble when you call up Eudora tech support and their voice mail answering system includes an option for "press one for I.E. 4 problems." And guess what they tell you when you press one? Again, you get three guesses and the first two don't count. Call Microsoft, it's their problem, not ours. Eventually I get a tech support guy from Eudora and he frankly admits, "Yeah, we get a lot of calls about I.E. 4. It screws up the 'dll' files in Win 95."
So why do they put it on the CD? He didn't have an answer for that one, other than saying "We don't recommend that anyone install it." But they don't warn against it either.

Even my personal computer guru, the guy who comes in to do our PC hardware and software installations that I don't want to tackle, tries to fix the mess and ends up shaking his head and saying "I've never seen a 'windows protection error' in my life. I don't have a clue."
So now my computer's in the shop and I'm killing time until I get it back by writing this column on a semi-retarded backup, which has none of my work files, which are also in the shop.
And the first person I comment about this mess to, a colleague who is a guru on Peer to Peer and Win 95 networks, Steven Dru Tweedie, says "Yeah, I had that same problem. I managed to recover just short of reinitializing my hard drive."
Now that's encouraging news. Mr. Gate's wonderful Netscape-killer browser might cause me the loss of not only my OS, but maybe all my work files, too? God help us all, or at least the millions of us who are laboring under the daily curse of the PC monopoly.
To make a long story shorter, I did recover just short of wiping out my hard drive and starting over. But only with the PC equivalent of what we call in Mac lingo a "clean install." That means I also had to reinstall every application, of which we have many, and reconfigure everything on the computer from ground zero.
But as in all things in life, I'm wiser for the experience. I've learned the hard way that I.E. 4 isn't a Netscape "killer." It's really a Win 95 killer. Is this how Bill Gates became the richest man in the world, by hosing down his own most famous OS?
I think I'll go home to my Mac and worry about a few conflicts with OS 8.