Special Edition Using Access 97, Second Edition

Putting Microsoft's Internet Program in Perspective

The astounding growth in the use of the Internet that occurred in 1994 and early 1995 appeared to have gone unnoticed by Microsoft. The World Wide Web, with its hyperlinked documents and easy-to-use browsers, had extended the Internet's reach to ordinary computer users. Sales of Internet server software and hardware mushroomed. Commercial versions of Web browsers, based on the original NCSA Mosaic browser design, gained a major market presence. Ultimately, Netscape Communications, Inc., gained the lion's share of the rapidly expanding Internet server and Web browser software market. The consensus of the computer trade press by late 1995 was that Microsoft had "missed the Internet boat."

Bill ...