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Maybe It's An Excel Bug (3/25/99)
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You may or may not be aware of the fact that Microsoft shipped a new version of Internet Explorer recently. And the reason that you may not know about IE5 is because the Mac version won't be out for several more months. Still, that doesn't mean that the Mac-enabled can't at least derive a little bit of entertainment from the release of this PC-only latest version; take, for example, Microsoft's claim that downloads of IE5 "more than tripled those of the previous record-setting Internet Explorer 4.0." That's all well and good, but they go on to say that one million copies of IE5 were downloaded in five days-- but shortly after IE4 came out, they had claimed that one million copies of IE4 were downloaded in only two days. Let's see, so 200,000 downloads a day is three times more than 500,000 a day; is this Microsoft Math 99™?
Kindasorta. According to a Wired article, Microsoft has been forced to admit that they may have exaggerated the download numbers for IE4 back in October of 1997; it really wasn't true that a million copies of IE4 were downloaded in two days. Rather, a million copies of the installer were downloaded-- and the installer, when run, downloads the bulk of the software. (Why Microsoft insists on doing things that way we'll never understand, but we find it tremendously irritating to complete the download of an installer only to find that it's not actually a full installer at all, but another downloader.) So basically, back in 1997 Microsoft tried to make IE4 look a lot more popular than it really was.
Not that there's anything particularly evil about that-- or, at least, nothing specific to a Microsoft version of evil. After all, they were just making their product look better than it is; that's what marketing's all about. Consider the whole "G3 is up to twice as fast as Pentium II" thing, which is true, but only under very specific conditions. The reason that we find this IE4 exaggeration interesting is because it occurred at the height of the pre-antitrust-trial struggle between Microsoft and Netscape, and it shows what kind of tactics Microsoft used to make people think Netscape was on the way out. When viewed as a piece of the overall puzzle, we just find it noteworthy, that's all...
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 3/25/99 episode: March 25, 1999: The iMac remains in the top five, and Apple overtakes Big Blue for retail computer sales. Meanwhile, the consumer portable might be more of an education portable by the time it sees the light of day, and Microsoft is forced to explain some interesting discrepancies in their download numbers for various versions of Internet Explorer...
Other scenes from that episode: 1422: Up In The Ranks (3/25/99) The February numbers are in, and it's good news for Apple-watchers everywhere. PC Data's latest statistics show that despite some availability problems, the fruit-flavored iMacs snagged a respectable number four slot in retail sales, making February the seventh consecutive month in which the iMac has been in the top five-- ever since it first debuted... 1423: Back To School For P1 (3/25/99) Depending on your lifestyle, we've got some good news and some potentially bad news about the upcoming consumer portable, code-named "P1" and expected to be dubbed the "WebMate" when it surfaces. The good news is, according to Apple Insider, the P1 is still on track for an official introduction late next month or in early May...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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