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Dear Windows-Help.NET subscriber,
Thank you all for you comments on the first Newsletter. Most where quite positive, but unfortunately even I "can't please all people - all of the time!".... If you don't like the HTML format, you can visit the Subscriptions page, where you can ubsubscribe yourself from the HTML version, and join the Text version.
If you have comments, or suggestions for what you would like to see in this Newsletter, let me know! You can send me email. I won't have chance to respond to all feedback personally, but I read all!
This Newsletter is also available on-line, and you can also check on back issues.
In the News
A little more on the Netscape - AOL deal.
Many people have been wondering why AOL would want to buy Netscape. O.K. according to some their browser is cool, but that could hardly be the reason. There are a few things that come to mind.
When looking at the total deal (which includes SUN) one cannot miss the fact that all three are currently testifying on behalf of the government at Microsoft's antitrust trial.
They all want to try and increase their market share at Microsoft's cost.
Another angle reveals some details which must have been in the minds of the Advertising reps at AOL: The Netscape site alone draws 20 million visitors a month. The other 3 most popular sites are operated by AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo, so this deal will give AOL 2 (out of four) of the most popular sites on the Internet.
And to make matters more interesting, AOL signed a deal with Microsoft back in 1996 to include Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser in the AOL software. Microsoft - on the other hand - included AOL's software in the Internet Connection Wizard. This agreement ends in January, so it could well see Netscape being bundled with AOL's software, which will give it a much needed boost in share of the browser markets. Estimates are that AOL has around 12-14 million subscribers world wide.
Netscape - in the mean time - released their "Netscape TuneUp for IE", which is a small (40Kb) ActiveX control that brings
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Netcenter smart services to Microsoft Internet Explorer users (you must be running IE 4.0 or later, on Windows 95, 98, or NT 4.0).
Netscape TuneUp for IE includes:
Smart Browsing with Internet Keywords or with What's Related and Integrated access to Netcenter, Netscape Search, My Netscape, Netscape WebMail, Netscape SmartUpdate, Netscape Member Directory and Netscape Contact.
Full details can be found on the Netscape site. There is also a FAQ, or if you want to take the plunge, you can download from this page.
I haven't tried it myself, and I'm not going to. Uninstalling should be easy though, I leave it up to you!
P.S. I think the name TuneUp for IE is inappropriate; there's no tuning done here!
Hmmmm... when reading my column you would think I'm a Netscape fan! Actually I only use their browser to test my Web site pages. And I know that only around 32% of the Windows-Help.NET's visitors use a flavor of Netscape - as compared to 67% using a Microsoft browser.
FREE stuff
Don't we just love free stuff? Here's another giveaway from Microsoft (but with a built in 30 day limit):
PhotoDraw 2000 trial version
PhotoDraw 2000 - one of the parts of the new Office 2000 Premium package, - is out as a stand-alone. While high-end graphics folks won't throw away their PhotoShop, PhotoDraw is a good alternative for the graphics needs of most Office users. PhotoDraw ships with 200 fonts, 20,000 pieces of clip art, 300 templates, and 375 background textures.
You can download from Microsoft's Web site, but be warned that it's a whopping 31Mb! For US$ 5.95 you might as well order it on CD (This trial CD offer is available only to customers in the United States, U.S. Territories, and Canada).
The full version can be ordered from a link on the PhotoDraw page, and costs US$ 149.00.
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04 Dec. 1998, Vol 1 No. 2
