SAN MATEO (12-04-95) - It's ironic that the Internet was created by the Defense Department during the Cold War. Now that the Berlin Wall is no more, the computer industry wants its own version of the Cold War. The battle for the hearts, minds, and pocketbooks of the Internet community, it appears, will be joined in earnest this week by the software giant and the Internet heavyweight.
Microsoft Corp. and Netscape Communications Corp. this week will set the stage for what will be competing strategies to win over the all- important developer community. As we report in our Page One story, Microsoft will belatedly open its kimono on the Internet front. Among other things, it is expected to announce its Java-killer strategy.
It will preach how and why Visual Basic should be the preferred choice of developers creating World Wide Web applications, the "why" being that VB is much easier to deploy. The dynamic duo of Netscape and Sun Microsystems Inc., for its part, is seeking to rain on Microsoft's parade by preannouncing its JavaScript scripting language.
What's more, Netscape is being magnanimous. It's ready to end the Cold War before it gets really frigid.
"We would welcome Microsoft to use JavaScript," Marc Andreessen, Netscape's vice president, told our reporter Nick Wingfield.
Yeah, right. Microsoft use JavaScript? And pigs will fly, too. The cold facts are that both sides are seeking control of the Internet. Each wants to be the standards bearer for Internet products. This Cold War is likely to last many winters.
Random musings: By now, most of you must have gotten over your disbelief at Netscape's skyrocketing stock price, which cleared US$130 per share last week. I was reading somewhere how in the '90s computer technology is something people are using to get rich, just like they did with stocks and bonds in the '80s and oil and real estate in the '70s. The average person may not know what a browser is, might not be interested in buying one, but sure as heck wants to buy the stock of the company that makes it. The point is brought home by a phone call Netscape received the day it went public. The caller said he wanted to invest in the company's stock, but -- would they please tell him what a browser is?
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