In an attempt to compete with Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape released the Navigator 3.0 Web browser in 1996.

The battle for market shares between Netscape’s Navigator and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which came to be known as the “browser wars,” began in earnest in August 1996. In mid-August, Microsoft introduced Internet Explorer. Days later, Netscape responded with Navigator 3.0, an upgrade from their previous Web browser software. In an attempt to lure customers, both Netscape and Microsoft offered aggressive incentives. Although Navigator, made by a relatively small company, took an early lead in the browser wars, it was eventually hurt by the ongoing competition with technology giant Microsoft. In 1998, AOL bought the Navigator browser. Today, most analysts concede that Microsoft has won the browser war. According to a 2000 study by StatMarket, Internet Explorer claimed over 80% of the Web browser market, with Netscape Navigator claiming less than the remaining 20%.

EconEdLink
The EconEdLink NetNewsline Economics of Internet Access (9–12) is a multi-day unit in which students learn about Internet access and pricing structures by completing three modules: exploration, invention and application. Students learn about market research and supply and demand structures as they relate to people accessing the Internet.

In Economic Forecasting: An Internet WebQuest (9–12), students use Web browsers to find up-to-date economic information and learn how economists use this information to predict the future health of the economy.

Bill Gates of Microsoft is one of three entrepreneurs students research as they analyze, compare and evaluate personal characteristics of entrepreneurs in The Entrepreneur in you? (9–12).

Microsoft is among the companies students investigate in Airline Mergers, Software Industry Monopolies: Contestable Markets? (9–12), in which students determine whether mergers and monopolies within certain industries have negative effects on consumers based on the theory of contestable markets.

Science NetLinks
The Science Update Browsing Music (6–12) discusses a powerful new music browser called SIMAC.