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Browser bruisers: Chiefs don gloves: Gates swipes at 'gnat' Netscape, while Barksdale jabs at 'dinosaur' Microsoft

By Jon Auerbach, Globe Staff, 10/09/96

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The war of the Internet browsers reached a fevered pitch yesterday, with Bill Gates suggesting an imminent demise for Netscape Communications Corp., and Netscape head James Barksdale labeling the Microsoft chief a technology dinosaur who has resorted to anticompetitive business practices.

The two Internet titans squared off here in a feisty verbal skirmish that wavered between amicable corporate respect and mutual disdain. Barksdale, the newcomer, portrayed his opponent as a dinosaur who will be dethroned by the budding Internet. Gates countered that Microsoft has myriad resources to take care of the Netscape. gnat.

It was one of the few times the two chiefs have squared off publicly, and analysts said the exchange stood out for its vituperative nature.

The debate, part of a technology conference sponsored by the Gartner Group, the Stamford, Conn.-based consulting and market research firm, aimed to chart the Internet's progress over the next five years. It drew some of the biggest names in the industry, from America Online Inc. chief executive Steve Case, to Visa U.S.A. chief Carl Pascarella.

If there was any agreement among the business leaders, it was that the embryonic global computer network has yet to offer the types of services required to truly make it a viable commercial and communications medium. ``The Internet doesn't fulfill the ideal of information at your fingertips,'' Gates declared.

The nub of the prolonged battle between Microsoft and Netscape concerns the tools, called browsers, that computer users will use to access the Internet in the future. Microsoft, seeing its ubiqitous Windows operating system threatened by the open standards of Internet browsers, is working to retain the viability of its platform by packaging a browser inside Windows.

Netscape, which has already established an early browser lead with its popular Netscape Navigator program, is now fighting for control of the lucrative market for servers, the muscle-bound computers that connect directly to the Internet.

In an interview after the debate, Barksdale accused Gates of lying about Microsoft's true commitment to open standards or the ability to use the Internet regardless of what operating system or browser is being used. ``Just look at the facts,'' Barksdale said. ``People know what he is saying just isn't true.''

For his part, Gates tried to paint a picture of Netscape as just one of many companies that try to compete against Microsoft. ``Every two years, the people who you would have said were our biggest competitors have changed,'' Gates said.

This story ran on page c2 of the Boston Globe on 10/09/96.