By Gary Kirchherr
I apologize to my faithful readers for the uncharacteristic lateness of this column. A DIMM I bought just before Thanksgiving turned out to be a dud, and it took the local Mac repair shop a week to track down the problem and remove the bad memory. By then, I was behind on other matters, hence the delay in getting around to writing this. Not a minute too soon; a lot happened in November.
The big news, of course, is that America Online and Netscape on Nov. 24 confirmed the rumors that the former plans to assimilate the latter. Going price - $4.2 billion. A related side deal, as reported by Reuters, is that Sun Microsystems will produce electronic commerce software that makes it easy to set up shop on the Net.
Jesse Berst in his Nov. 24 column sees the buyout as a good news/bad news deal for Joe Six-Pack. The good news, according to Berst, is that AOL has plenty of cash with which to develop a browser that can compete with Micro$oft Internet Explorer, and AOL's throng of newbies ensures Netscape's market share. The bad news? AOL stands to capture 70 percent of the online-services market, and when AOL wields such power, the customer gets screwed. "An AOL/Netscape combo would lock up a big chunk of cyberspace - and force ecommerce and content providers to cough up big bucks for a piece of the action," Berst warns.
I wish I were as sanguine as Berst about the "good news." I wish I believed AOL's money will go to developing a better browser, and competition with Micro$oft will flourish. But I don't believe it. AOL is awash in money it makes from clueless newbies who are paying a premium for its "service," yet AOL still has horrible software, connections and customer support. As recently as October, a J.D. Power and Associates study on Internet customer satisfaction ranked AOL last of the five largest ISPs in terms of customer satisfaction. And yet, now we are asked to believe AOL will morph into a company that gives a damn about quality? Consider also a Nov. 27 Reuters report that AOL is going to keep Micro$oft Internet De$troyer as its Web browser! That's right. AOL will be using a competing browser - made by a company with a competing online service at that - instead of its own! Now there's a vote of confidence for you!
A clue behind this decision is deep within the article: "In return for using Microsoft's browser, AOL will have its Internet service software on the more than 90 percent of personal computers sold today that run on Windows. By positioning AOL up front with Windows, sign-ups among new PC owners have mushroomed."
So there you have it. AOL bypasses its own browser in favor of its competitor's to keep the AOL-M$ quid pro quo in place. Of course, AOL's business decision has nothing to do with the fact that it wants to keep its software bundled with the OS with a monopoly. That can't be it! Micro$oft doesn't have a monopoly! At least that's what M$ lawyers are saying in the antitrust suit. And they wouldn't lie, would they?
The lawyers also say the AOL-Netscape deal proves the Department of Justice case is a crock. Well, if you dare question the omniscient Micro$oft suits, you should read ZDNN's testimony summary from three government witnesses who claim Micro$oft tried to bully them into dropping products or cutting off contacts with Micro$oft's rivals. One witness is from Netscape; another is from AOL. Fancy that.
Meanwhile, Bill Gates' taped testimony was played at the trial. What a hoot. As Inter@ctive Week Online reported Nov. 16, Gates was evasive, "forgetful," and argumentative about the meanings of incriminating words like "we," "competition" and "concerned." The performance was positively Clintonesque. The next day, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that, as of mid-February, bars Micro$oft from selling Windows 98 and Internet De$troyer 4.0 with Sun's Java technology. This of course is related to another important Micro$oft lawsuit -yes, there's more than just the one. Details of this latest setback in Micro$oft's efforts to rule the world are in a Nov. 17 ZDNN article.
One silver lining of having a late column this month is that I was able to confirm a rumor I first read in a Mac the Knife column - Apple Computer does indeed plan to lower the price of its wildly popular iMac from $1,299 to $999. If you still have $1,299 to spend, that'll get you the new-and-improved iMac that will come out at the same time. The bad news? You have to wait until February.
Leaving a new-model iMac IOU under the tree may bring you some grief from the young'uns who want to enjoy their Christmas presents now, but they'll thank you later.