REDMOND, Wash., Aug. 19, 1996 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that more than 1 million people have downloaded the new Microsoft® Internet Explorer version 3.0 Web browser in its first week of availability, rivaling the success of the Windows® 95 operating system in its opening weekend of sales. The company also announced that Usability Sciences Corp., an independent research firm, has found that four out of five users prefer Microsoft Internet Explorer to Netscape
™
Navigator.
Downloads of the English version of Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 alone have already doubled the total number of downloads of Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.0 since it was released in December 1995. Earlier in the week, customer demand saturated server and bandwidth capacity at “http://microsoft.com/” , with over 45 million hits the first day. Microsoft has since increased the capacity and is now prepared for the planned release this week of additional foreign language versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0. Joining the just-released Japanese and German versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 are localized versions for Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, Italian, Korean and Spanish.
“Customer demand for Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 has surpassed our greatest expectations,”
said Brad Chase, vice president in the Internet platform and tools division at Microsoft.
“We’re gratified that users and our partners have found Microsoft Internet Explorer the best way to experience the Internet. We still have much work to do, but it is clear customers believe we have a better product.”
Study Finds Users Prefer Microsoft Internet Explorer Over Netscape Navigator
A study by the independent research firm Usability Sciences Corp. showed that four out of five users (79 percent) preferred Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 over Netscape Navigator 3.0 in all 14 categories tested, including ease of use, efficiency in completing assigned tasks, and ease of learning. The survey also found that users completed more tasks with Microsoft Internet Explorer than with Navigator (77 percent vs. 70 percent).
“[Microsoft Internet Explorer] was much more intuitive, much easier to learn, and more in keeping with what I am accustomed to [than Navigator],”
said survey participant Carol Anderson, QA nurse with Genex Services Inc.
“Microsoft Internet Explorer was much easier and quicker to understand,”
said William Rose, branch manager with Manpower Temporary Services.
The Usability Sciences study asked users to complete typical Internet tasks – such as visiting various Web pages, downloading files and customizing the browser interface – using both Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 (beta 2) and Netscape Navigator 3.0 (beta 5). The complete study, detailing the methodology and tests performed, is available on Microsoft’s Web site at http://microsoft.com/ie/ie3/usability.htm .
Web Sites Enhanced With ActiveX Are Experiencing Record Growth, Number of Visits
Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 is the clear leader in enabling the development of the most exciting and engaging content on the Internet through unique support for HTML 3.2, Cascading Style Sheets, Java
™
and ActiveX
™
Controls. The list of the Web’s hottest sites enhanced for Microsoft Internet Explorer continues to grow, with the recent addition of National Geographic (
(http://www.nationalgeographic.com)
and NetGuide
(http://www.netguide.com)
. Now customers have access to more than 300 ActiveX-enhanced Web sites including previously announced ESPNET SportsZone
(http://espnet.sportszone.com)
, The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition
(http://wsj.com/ie)
and Hollywood Online
(http://www.hollywood.com)
.
”
Our ActiveX-enhanced sites, (http://www.pythonline.com) and (http://www.kidsworld.com) , are experiencing record levels of visitors since the release of Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0,”
said Mary Crisp, communications manager at 7th Level Inc.
“Microsoft Internet Explorer and ActiveX are providing us the most compelling way to entertain visitors to our sites.”
Developers have also embraced ActiveX, offering more than 1,000 ActiveX Controls that facilitate the development of active Web sites. Even the top Web sites for Java Applets (http://www.gamelan.com) and plug-ins (http://www.browserwatch.com/) now host directories listing the latest ActiveX-based resources, including ActiveX Controls.
Microsoft Announces
“
Dare to Compare
”
Challenge
Microsoft is inviting users to compare Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 and Netscape Navigator 3.0 and decide for themselves. To help customers easily evaluate the two browsers, Microsoft today unveiled its
“
Dare to Compare
”
program and Microsoft Internet Explorer Challenge Site on the Internet. Under this program, people who visit all 10 pages of the Challenge Site by Sept. 20 can register to win one of many valuable prizes. Microsoft is giving away five Pentium
®
-based personal computers, 10 copies of the Windows NT
®
Server operating system version 4.0, and 10 copies of Microsoft Office Professional for Windows 95. The Challenge Site includes three major areas:
Users can visit the Challenge Site at
http://microsoft.com/ie/challenge/
.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 is now available free of charge from Microsoft’s Web site at
http://microsoft.com/ie/
.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ
“
MSFT
”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
Microsoft, Windows, ActiveX and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Netscape is a trademark of Netscape Communications Corp.
Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems Inc.
Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corp.
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at
http://microsoft.com/presspass/
on Microsoft’s corporate information pages.
