Netscape Navigator tracks course to IBM's OS/2 system

Electronic News, Sept 2, 1996 by Cynthia Bournellis

Austin, Texas--For years, industry pundits believed that IBM would eventually ditch its highly underrated OS/2 operating system.

Even Netscape Communications, whose CEO was reported to have once said that OS/2 was irrelevant, is getting on the OS/2 bandwagon. Both IBM and Netscape unveiled plans to jointly bring the Netscape Navigator Web browser to the OS/2 platform. "Navigator was the missing link in OS/2's ability to deliver value in terms of the Internet and intranet spaces, which our large customers are beginning to demand," explained Wally Casey of IBM. Bob Lisbonne, VP of client product marketing at Netscape, replied: "We've worked a lot with corporate customers, and 92 of the Fortune 100s use Navigator in our servers. We plan to offer Navigator to 14 million OS/2 users."

The announcement came a day after Netscape made a similar pact with Apple Computer to support Apple's Cyberdog Internet suite and its OpenDoc open computing architecture.

Since the announcement last spring of OS/2 Warp 4.0, the network client operating system code named Merlin, IBM has been driving itself to take advantage of the network computing space. "OS/2 remains an important cog in the overall goal of IBM as we move toward a more demonstrative and dramatic role in network computing," said Mr. Casey, VP of client product management in IBM's software group.

Navigator for OS/2 will be version 2.02. However, it will not be native to OS/2. Why? "Netscape's model has proven successful," said Mr. Casey, "and is one we will continue to use." Customers of OS/2 v.3 will be able to download Navigator 2.02 for an additional charge. A beta version of it will be available on the Internet for download on Sept. 25, with a final version due out by the end of October. Navigator 2.02 will also be available via the Internet to Merlin users free of charge. It will not be included in a shrink-wrapped version of Merlin.

In the long run, IBM's agreement with Netscape will kill its own browser. Mr. Casey said the company will maintain the browser for existing customers, but all future efforts will be with Netscape. Both companies will also deliver an OS/2 version of Navigator 4.0 code-named Galileo.

But will Navigator be enough for OS/2 to take on Windows NT? International Data Corp. (IDC) analyst Dan Kusnetzky doesn't think so. "It won't be enough to get people to abandon Windows, because one does not live by the Web. OS/2 is very good technology, but in the long run superior marketing...not technology will win." Neither IBM nor Netscape would disclose the financial terms of their agreement, but sources said IBM probably paid a hefty price for Navigator.

IBM isn't solely relying on Navigator in its efforts to position OS/2 as a platform of choice for network computing. Big Blue is also counting on Java technology to boost OS/2 shipments, which on the server side, have steadily declined over the past three years, according to IDC. In 1994, 228,000 OS/2 servers shipped, beating Windows NT server shipments by 113,000 units. But last year, OS/2 server shipments decreased to 229,000, while NT's exceeded 390,000 units. On the other hand, IBM has seen success on the client side, outshipping NT on the desktop by 640,000 units last year. Regardless of whether it's servers or clients, "I measure OS/2's success by how much database software is sold for it," said Mr. Kusnetzky.

OS/2 has undergone criticism for its limited software developer support--the platform has 3,600 applications written for it to date. But IBM hopes the addition of the Java programming language will give OS/2 a fighting chance at the enterprise market. Java will be native to Merlin, allowing it to run Java applications and Internet applets independent of a Web browser. "There are not as many applications right now for OS/2, but with the inclusion of Java, why would developers want to write just for Microsoft?" questioned David Barnes, senior product manager for IBM's personal software products group, during a meeting with Electronic News last week at the Windows NT Intranet Solutions show in San Francisco. "Our objective is not to be proprietary. We are not just selling an OS. Users are buying our strategy of open technology and multiplatform support."

IBM's VoiceType technology, another feature native to Merlin, should also attract more developers, said Mr. Barnes. He demonstrated Merlin running VoiceType on a 133MHz Pentium, 16MB computer. VoiceType is a voice recognition technology that enables dictation and speech navigation for doing tasks such as maneuvering around Web sites. It is capable of running voice dictation as fast as the user can speak, as long as the speech is discrete and carefully enunciated. VoiceType utilizes any standard sound blaster card.

"I'm not sure if voice is the be-all, end-all," said Phil Johnson, an IDC analyst. "The problem IBM has regarding OS/2 and Windows NT is not the technology but rather IBM's business model. Voice is a good starting point, but IBM has to keep working on getting applications developers excited. Mr. Casey said IBM is continuing to work with major ISVs to port their applications to Open 32, IBM's API standard (formerly known as Developer API Extensions). Open 32 is native to OS/2 and will be native to Merlin.