Back from the brink: Microsoft and the strategic use of standards in the Browser Wars

Paul Windrum, MERIT, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 2000)

The browser wars are probably the best-chronicled standards competition in recent history. Yet the standard lock-in model does not readily account for the dramatic change in fortunes of Microsoft. At one time it seemed that Microsoft would be go the way of IBM before it and fail to catch the next technological wave in the computer industry. However Microsoft managed to capture the browser market, overturning Netscape's initial domination of the market. In seeking to understand this dramatic return of events, the paper begins by outlining the key elements of the Arthur model. This is followed by a historical narrative of the browser wars that highlights three aspects of this technological competition; firms' strategic use of standards, users' considerations of initial set-up costs, and the degree of interconnectivity between product markets. The paper finally considers how the standard lock-in model may be extended in order to encompass these dimensions.