In the early days of the web, Netscape was the dominant browser. Why wasn't it able to maintain that dominance? There are numerous reasons: 1. Switching costs were low. The products were free, simple, and similar, and were easy to switch between. 2. There was a high degree of compatibility: web pages displayed almost the same way regardless of which browser was used. 3. There weren't substantial network effects. In other words, one person didn't benefit from using the same browser that another was using. Collectively these facts made it easier for Microsoft to leverage its dominance on the desktop to quickly gain browser market share.