Re: Does MS Still control The Connection?

[Tod Landis <landis@cruzio.com>]

Yes, that's about it.  HTML has been "enhanced" with MS
proprietary stuff.  IIS uses a proprietary interface, ISAPI,
to interface with other apps.  ISAPI toolkits are easiest to
use with Microsoft's complers.   Etc, etc...As Glenn pointed
out:  "Your first taste is free.".

In large measure this works because MS customers, read that as
IT executives, permit them to do this.  They get so excited by the
latest wiggly ActiveX component that they suspend disbelief when it
comes time to consider the qualityof the systems they are building.
Will it be stable?  Will it be obsoleted?  What will the hairballs cost?
Also, they fail to match the new systems with real needs.  In my opinion,
Cal State's CETI is the result of such poor shopping skills.

Now before we all join a suicide pact, remember that HTML and
HTTP are W3 standards, described at www.w3.org.  Microsoft owns
the desktop, not the web.  There's still hope for successful, OPEN
standards.. Of course, I thought '83 was going to be the year of Unix...

Tod Landis

john, Alpha, hudson, ma, usa 225-4811 wrote:

> This is a big win, because now Compaq et al can pre-install Netscape
> if they want.  It means that MS wont get 90% of the browser
> APPLICATION market by leveraging their 90% of the OS market.  I would
> expect browser stats to increase for Netscape (and others) because of
> this result.
>
> But the more sinister and subtle goal of MS to leverage their OS
> market to make the internet proprietary seems still afoot.
>
> What i mean is that MS still controls all layers from the browser to
> the modem.  Someone's going to have to help me w/ my network layers,
> but it's my understanding that the "TCP/IP stack" is provided by MS.
> MS could still use the tactic of substituting MS-TCP/IP which has
> "enhanced communication features" which allow it alone to transport
> content from "MS-Enhanced content" sites.  In this way, they could
> transform the industry from TCP/IP to MS-TCP/IP and then erect their
> Toll Gates on the Information SuperHighway.
>
> It's my understanding that the HTTP protocol implementation resides in
> the browser, so that'll be Netscape's.  Am i right?  Until Netscape
> starts trying to abuse its own monopoly power, we're safe there.
>
> The other thing that bothers me is the built-in HTTP protocols in
> every MS product.  I think MS calls them "web-enabled DLLs."  Is this
> another opportunity for them to leverage their 90% OS share to control
> the protocol thru "enhancement."  They can provide a Windows OS in
> which every DLL is web-enabled (runs the HTTP protocol which allows
> the DLL to connect to the internet).  I can see Internet Apps written
> for Windows which rely on these DLLs, thereby handing control of the
> internet connection over to MS.  In this scenario, the Apps provide
> the value over and above a mere internet connection, which would seem
> to be a good business model for a forward-looking internet startup.
> By handing over control of the internet connection, it seems MS still
> retains control of that connection, and can "enhance" it (make it
> proprietary) and leverage their monopoly.