War of the browsers rages on
No truce this week for browser turf wars.
On its side, Microsoft announced that the coming version 3.0 of Internet Explorer will work with Internet conferencing software to let users share Windows-based applications across the Internet. Version 3.0 is due to begin beta testing in May.
Explorer will serve as the front end for Microsoft's Internet conferencing software based on the T.120 and H.320 international conferencing standards, which were also backed today by Intel. The combination will let groups of users conduct meetings with illustrations and comments in a shared window space, let multiple users participate in a single conferencing session, and let audio channels carry point-to-point telephone conversations.
In addition, Microsoft released the free Internet Explorer 2.0 for Windows 3.1. It is fully compatible with HTML 2.0 and 3.0, NNTP newsreading, HTTP-Cookies, FTP and Gopher protocols and the SMTP email protocol. The newsreader and email client, contained in the "advanced version" of Explorer 2.0, will not be available until May.
Netscape, for its part, took steps toward enlivening the Web with video, audio, and 3D graphics. As expected, the company announced a licensing agreement to include Apple's QuickTime plug-in with the coming version of Navigator 3.0, now available in beta form.
Apple has also created a QuickTime VR extension to enable 3D, 360-degree viewing within Navigator. The extension will be available later this spring as a free download from the QuickTime home page.
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