Word: aol
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Despite all this jockeying for position on Gates' enemies list, however, there's no company that Microsoft claims to fear more than America Online. At this point, Microsoft's legal strategy in the antitrust case seems to consist largely of proving AOL's worth as a once and future competitor in just about every digital arena. At a deposition two weeks ago, Microsoft put AOL's Steve Case on the rack over his business plans. Now AOL exec David Colburn will be called as a hostile witness. "They've put most of their chips on the AOL marker," says George...
...first glance, it may look like a risky bet. Microsoft controls more than 90% of the world's desktops, and its leverage of that alleged monopoly is what's on trial here. AOL is the world's largest Internet service provider (ISP), controlling nearly 50% of the eyeballs on the Net. AOL's contention--and the government's--is that Microsoft is comparing apples and oranges. True, AOL's 18 million online customers easily outnumber Microsoft's 2 million. On the other hand, Microsoft's Web browser now commands a 60% share of the U.S. office market against...
...wars are over; the browser battle is winding down. For all Microsoft's muttering about how its rival wants to create a direct competitor to Windows--the so-called AOL PC--Case would admit to no area in which the two firms are in danger of butting heads on equal terms...
...Internet isn't living up to its potential. Most of us would junk our 56K modems in a Palo Alto minute for a viable, affordable high-speed link to our home. But which pipe will we choose? Cable? Telephone? Wireless? Satellite? No one knows for sure, and Microsoft and AOL--both of whose businesses depend on the answer--are at pains to appear neutral in the coming shakeout. "We're pipe agnostic," says Microsoft vice president Brad Chase. Which actually means they have to be ready to pray at all the altars. That's why Microsoft and AOL were vying...
Microsoft won that bid with its much publicized $5 billion purchase of AT&T stock. Now it's set to provide Ma Bell with up to 10 million set-top boxes preloaded with a stripped-down version of Windows. AOL missed out, and its stock went into a brief tailspin. But broadband is not a zero-sum game--at least, not yet. Case quickly countered with his own new deal, to have Hughes Electronics' DirecTV offer AOL via satellite to its 7 million customers. The resulting product will be called AOL TV. Microsoft, of course, is still pushing...