Although Netscape would not elaborate on their rationale, they did say that these services could reach as many as 72 million people in 26 states. Deal after deal signed with major online service providers like America Online had Microsoft letting them use the browser technology for free in a bid to gain market share. Netscape has seen some of its absolutely critical market share eaten up by Microsoft in the past few months and apparently is fighting mad about it. Apparently, Netscape has realized that the business of licensing the browser to access providers for use by consumers was not working out as planned and management has decided to throw in the towel. Thirsting for those fantasy profits at the expense of real-world market share has been recognized as a bankrupt strategy by the gang in Mountain View, California.
Market share is increasingly the critical variable in the economics of the server business.
Well, that 72 million customer thing in the press release has people besides themselves with fear. These telecommunications companies number among the largest in the world. The biggest misconception in the online business is that you connect to the Internet or proprietary online service via the initial dial-up from the local phone provider. Although local Bells own plenty of dial-up lines, they have had to build their nodes from scratch and connect these nodes to chunks of the Internet backbone owned by other companies. Heck, PSINet, which owns a significant portion of the Internet backbone, got out of the consumer business because it did not have the necessary resources to provide the same connectivity.