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By
Leslie Walker
Washington Post
Like
political foes fighting for the middle ground, Microsoft
and America Online are moving closer from opposite directions
as they redesign their Internet software to appeal to "undecideds"
- the great, silent majority of people who have yet to go
online.
Microsoft,
the master of complicated software, made a foray into AOL's
simpler turf last week by releasing a Web browser that mimics
AOL's colorful picture menus. The new software is radically
different from Microsoft's popular Internet Explorer and
is aimed at novice users. Its biggest change is to place
oversized links to Microsoft's own Web sites across the
top of every page in a graphical menu that replaces Internet
Explorer's tool bar.
As
AOL has done for years, Microsoft's new MSN Explorer creates
the impression that you are inside a private world rather
than surfing the wide-open Internet. Butterflies flit around,
envelopes fly through space when you send e-mail, and a
soft-spoken lady even talks when you sign on and off.
As
Microsoft is simplifying, AOL is adding advanced features
and making at least some of its pages look more like the
standard Web services from Microsoft, Yahoo and other portals.
AOL's 6.0 software update won't be released until later
this fall, but the preview version shows AOL adopting Web
design standards in its personal finance channel, including
longer pages, banner ads at the top and a horizontal navigation
bar with plain text "tabs." AOL executives say the finance
channel has sophisticated users who appreciate the Web design
touches, but they're not planning to expand them to all
the channels.
It
might seem odd, but it isn't surprising that AOL and Microsoft
would meet in the middle of cyberspace. AOL, after all,
has always been better at marketing to people. To become
No. 1, it offered easy-to-use software that made up for
its low firepower by helping millions of people learn the
basics of communicating online. Now AOL wants to help its
24 million subscribers accomplish more complex tasks and
extend their AOL personal content so it is accessible from
TV and portable devices.
Microsoft,
by contrast, is a software wizard that has never been good
at marketing directly to consumers. It spent vast sums to
create its own Web services, some of which are so powerful
that only gearheads can figure out how they work. Barely
3 million people subscribe to MSN's Internet access service,
which until recently has done a poor job of unifying Microsoft's
disparate Web sites (Money Central, Expedia, MSNBC.com,
Hotmail) into a coherent service. It didn't help that Microsoft
gave the sites different names and did little to promote
its MSN brand, which stands for the Microsoft Network.
Now
Microsoft executives believe that MSN Explorer - which puts
"MSN" at the top of every screen, even on pop-up ads - will
help change its image as a clumsy Internet player. The redesigned
browser simplifies sign-up and makes the Web easier to navigate
by adding icons directly in the browser frame that link
to e-mail, chat, money, shopping and other MSN services.
With Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, users have to
know which Web site to visit in order to find those services.
Of
course, the prominent new links to Microsoft's Web services
do more than simplify navigation. They also give the company
a tighter hold on people as they surf competing Internet
sites, because the browser frame sits on top of Web pages
and allows one-click access back to MSN services. AOL has
long done the exact same thing with its string of colorful
icons stripped atop the software frame. MSN Explorer also
creates new advertising and programming space in the browser
frame, allowing ads and news headlines to stay on people's
screens when they leave MSN to surf the Net.
It
remains to be seen whether anyone other than newcomers will
favor MSN Explorer over the more advanced Internet Explorer.
Internet Explorer, which recently got its own minor redesign,
was a focusof the antitrust case in which federal prosecutors
successfully argued that the Redmond, Wash., software maker
had illegally used its Windows monopoly to promote its Internet
browser. While easier to use, the new browser lacks a few
basic features, such as the ability to save Web pages. But
it adds many useful ones, such as an embedded media player
that simplifies the playing of music and movie clips, a
customizable menu that lets people choose tool bar links,
and an easy way to store Web e-mail offline.
Microsoft
says it will market MSN Explorer to nonsubscribers as well,
because in the long run the company hopes to convince people
that MSN is a content-rich Web service that anyone can use
for free. Only the access part costs money. Toward that
goal, MSN Explorer works even if people buy their Internet
access from other companies, such as small providers in
remote areas where Microsoft offers no local phone numbers.
MSN.com already is running a banner ad encouraging everyone
to download and try MSN Explorer. After its official release
in a few months, the streamlined browser will be distributed
by partners such as RadioShack, Best Buy, Dell and Compaq.
Company
execs say the browser is the first of many initiatives designed
to simplify and personalize Microsoft's Web offerings. It
fits into the "Microsoft.net" strategy for shifting Microsoft's
mission away from selling shrink-wrapped software and toward
providing Internet-based services. "This is a first step
in the direction of creating an interface for Microsoft.net,"
says Microsoft's marketing vice president, Yusuf Mehdi.
AOL,
meanwhile, is making changes of its own. A big one is the
redesign of its Web portal, AOL.com, to rebrand it "AOL
Anywhere" and close off some customized content to nonsubscribers.
Subscribers will sign in at the front door for a more customized
view of the site.
AOL.com
has been totally open to all visitors since it launched,
without requiring registration, even though it is used mostly
by AOL subscribers to pick up e-mail from other computers.
Increasingly, AOL.com has been shifting its Web portal efforts
to Netcenter.com, the site it bought with Netscape last
year. The company views AOL.com as a gateway to give AOL
subscribers access to their personalized content from cell
phones and other devices.
Like
MSN's new Explorer, AOL is embedding a multimedia player
in its 6.0 version to make it easier to watch video or play
music. It is revamping its e-mail software to display images
and regular Web pages directly in the message box. The new
software also will add a telephone access service that uses
voice recognition and will be called "AOL by Phone."
But
a core difference between AOL's software development efforts
and Microsoft's is that Microsoft is developing personalization
techniques that anyone will be able to use, even someone
who doesn't buy Internet access from MSN. AOL is focused
on helping its paying subscribers personalize their content,
not anyone else. The contrasting strategies make sense when
you realize that AOL draws nearly three-quarters of its
revenue from access fees - a market lead it intends to protect
even as Microsoft takes aim with an impressive AOL-like
software clone.
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