INTERVIEW:
Question 1
Mr. Barksdale, in the last year you have been up against the strongest competitor in the
world, Bill Gates. Are you enjoying the battle and where is the real battlefield now?
Answer
I think we have learned a lot, as the "Economist" recently said. They were
amazed at how well Netscape has done. Predictions of our demise were misunderstood. We
have done very well. I think most people are rather disappointed in how Microsoft has done
in the last year in this area. They have not gained very much ground. Considering the fact
they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in marketing and promotion, they have not
done very well.
Question 2
What is your vision of the Internet market today and the value of this market?
Answer
The value of the Internet software portion of the market is estimated to reach somewhere
around US$10 billion by the end of this century, which is only two years and three months
away. So it is quite a large, deep market. There are literally hundreds of billions of
dollars of opportunity for hardware companies and service providers, but we are not in
that business, so we see it as a big, broad, deep market that we can hopefully have some
reasonable share of.
Question 3
If you consider the market divided into three broad areas now: Internet, Intranet, and
Extranet, what are the strategies of Netscape for the three?
Answer
Netscape's strategy in the building out of enterprise and other types of software using
open Internet software is first to link the company together, wire a company or government
together, using Intranet software, which is really the same as Extranet software, but that
just means linking companies to other companies. Netscape sees itself first wiring
companies, then linking companies to other companies, and lastly - the third leg of the
stool - is to allow customers to interlink with companies. The 65 million-plus users of
the Netscape Navigator are much-needed. They represent a large potential audience for
businesses, who want to bring those people to electronic commerce and Internet uses of
these products. We think that is a very viable strategy. One: wire the business. Two: wire
business to business. And three: wire customers to businesses.
Question 4
The Internet is growing so fast and you have a new alliance with the telcos. Can
you explain why?
Answer
From the very beginning - particularly in Europe but also in the United States and in Asia
- we have found the telcos to be marvelous customers of Netscape software because the
telcos are the ultimate embodiment of Extranet and Internet providers. They don't know
what the end users are going to have on their desktop, whether a Macintosh or a certain
variant of Windows or Unix. Netscape products run across all of those. So the telcos have
always been large buyers of our software, and increasingly so. The announcements we are
making this week are posting various Internet applications at the telcos.
Question 5
Everyone knows Navigator, but what are the new products of Netscape Communicator and the
products for channel, push technology? Can you explain the strategy of your products?
Answer
On the client side we have the Navigator which is one component of an overall suite we
call Communicator, which includes not just navigating but also messaging and keeping your
calendar and schedules as well as groupware, composing web documents and web pages which
we call Composer. There is also automatic administration for businesses so that they can
centrally administer all of the clients to look the same, which regularly cuts their cost.
In addition to that we have announced another new component called Netcaster, which allows
for push technology from web sites, so that as a recipient I can decide what items come
into my mailbox. That's called Netcaster. So netcasting combines with Communicator gives a
very useable, friendly environment for people who want to get the maximum use out of the
Internet.
Question 6
And do you think that it will used also by television or media companies, for example?
Answer
Well, are several companies like that are looking at it. But today television is not as
good as an application over the Internet, particularly to the home, because of its
relatively slow speed. However, many television companies are using their products and
taking their content which is basically television, editorial content, and condensing it
and pushing it out over the Netcaster. Companies like CNN in the United States do that;
CNN financial news does it. ABC does that in the United States, where they take their
editorial content and push it over the Internet using the Netcaster as a recipient.
Question 7
Netscape have also founded Naveo. How do you plan to reach consumers, families, who don't
yet use the computer and to bring cyberspace to these people?
Answer
Naveo is a subsidiary of Netscape that we partially own in conjunction with Oracle. It is
designed to build software using Netscape software to put on home appliances like
television sets, set top boxes, DVD devices, so that you can channel television content to
the home along with Internet content, so that people viewing television get a picture
experience. We are very excited about this, but it will be a few more months before you
see a lot of it. Naveo released its first product in conjunction with RCS television this
week to allow people to buy RCA-compatible TV sets to get Internet content.
Question 8
And what about the other Internet devices, the wireless for example, because connectivity
will be not only though wire in the near future.
Answer
The Internet is just a network of networks. Any information that can be moved from one
place to another can utilize Internet connectivity. Certainly, wireless devices, wireless
telephones are now coming out with the Internet connectivity. Wireless personal data
assistants are coming out with Internet connectivity. You are going to see all sorts of
telemetry devices. There are currently about six billion intelligent computer chips out
there, only two hundred million of which are in PCs. This is a marvelous opportunity for
connecting all of these devices together to improve communication for mankind.
Question 9
In the last three years Netscape has been the fastest growing company in the
history of software. Do you think you can maintain this speed?
Answer
One of the good things about our products is that they are quickly changeable so that we
can keep moving them rapidly. In addition to that we are using our web site more and more
to promote and sell our products. For this third leg of the stool that I spoke of earlier
- connecting people to the customers and to businesses - we are primarily using the
Netcenter, which is our own Netscape homepage, www.netscape.com, that brings you to these
various providers. That gives you a whole new distribution channel and opportunity to grow
these products in different ways, different directions, and at different speeds.
Question 10
So Netscape is the first example of electronic commerce.
Answer
I think so. Netscape today is the largest distributor of software on the Internet and one
of the very best users of our own products for electronic commerce. We sell all manner of
products through our electronic store, everything form software to baseball caps and
coffee mugs, and it has become a very significant portion of our business. Currently,
we're running about 145 million hits a day on the Netscape homepage.
Question 11
How do you see the future of the browser?
Answer
I think the browser will become less and less distinguishable. All manner of connectivity
will just become more and more transparent to the user. There are many new techniques and
technologies that my company is working on, using advanced software techniques to make the
connectivity to the Internet almost seamless from you desktop, your home appliance, your
television set or whatever. I don't think we will think of the browser anymore than today
we think of how the telephone system works. It just works.
Question 12
What will be the new challenges on the net in the year 2000?
Answer
I don't know exactly when these things will happen. But we are moving inexorably toward a
point in time when all media - visual as well as audio and written - combine using digital
technologies to allow us to find things and people more easily and combine information and
connectivity. It will become a seamless part our life. The fact is that most young people
today, of say ten to fifteen years old, don't see this as a big deal. They have grown up
with it as we have grown up with television. I think it will grow and evolve and become a
natural human experience that makes us more productive, more communicative, and hopefully
better citizens of the world.
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