Microsoft Launches Explorer 5.0 Browser

SEATTLE — Microsoft launched a new version of its Web browser Thursday that could give it a significant, though temporary, boost in its Internet software battle with rival Netscape Communications.

Microsoft said the new browser, Internet Explorer 5.0, is faster, more robust and simpler to use than an earlier version. But, significantly, the new version also disables a much-hyped feature introduced in Version 4 called “Active Desktop,” which, among other things, allows Windows users to browse their computer’s hard disks as if they were Web pages.

The company acknowledged that many users did not care for the feature or for the advertising-laden “Channel Bar”--a setback to its strategy of integrating Web browsing into its PC operating system.

“They just took Active Desktop off because nobody wanted it cluttering their screen,” said Dwight Davis, a Seattle-based analyst with market researcher Summit Strategies.

The decision to disable Active Desktop, although long expected, conceivably could be used by the Justice Department to support its contention in its antitrust case against Microsoft that Windows and the Explorer browser are two distinct products and that Microsoft packaged them simply as a way of boosting its browser market share.

But Microsoft and many experts insist that the browser and Windows still share a great deal of programming code, so that even if Windows has a different look from the browser, Windows still treats desktop and Web documents in much the same way.

In some cases, the integration is even greater with the new browser. The new version of Explorer, for example, automatically coordinates with Windows to allow users to switch between different Internet connections without constantly changing network settings. Windows users can also upgrade their operating system by simply downloading and using Internet Explorer 5.0.

“I see this as an ambiguous event,” George Washington University law professor Bill Kovacic said of Microsoft’s latest upgrade. “It might help the government in that it suggests the feasibility of disentangling the browser from the operating system. On the other hand, Microsoft might argue that it needs the freedom to experiment with different types of products. They might say, ‘We won’t know what consumers want unless we have the freedom to bundle or to unbundle’ ” the browser.

Netscape, which was acquired this week by America Online, plans to offer an upgrade of its browser, Communicator 5.0, later this year.

Microsoft also announced that it would release a new version of Windows called Windows 98 Second Edition this fall that includes Internet Explorer 5.0.

Microsoft shares rose $5.31 to close at $172.44 on Nasdaq.

Times staff writer Jube Shiver Jr. contributed to this report.