The Dynamic Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 By Ahmad Abualsamid   Microsoft Corp.--some-times a good first, always a brilliant second--strikes again. With the release of Internet Explorer (IE) 4, it brings the Internet to your desktop. But is it a revolution, or just part screensaver and part fancy wallpaper? If you believe all the hype, you'd think that you cannot live without IE 4. On the other hand, if you read various newsgroups, you'd think again before touching it. IE 4 brings many innovations to your desktop, including new dynamic HTML support, Web casting technology and tighter ActiveX integration. However, these capabilities present a double-edged sword. The more advanced Microsoft's (and Netscape's) offerings become, the more th e need to keep two browsers on your computer and to develop for two diverging technologies on your home page. For starters, you must choose between Microsoft's Webcasting and Netscape' s Netcaster. Not all JavaScripts execute the same way under the two browsers, and Communicator does not support ActiveX. In addition, Communicator is available for many Unix platforms, while IE exists mainly for Win32 (with support for Macintosh and Windows 3.1 forthcoming). Aside from IE's technological advances and HTML woes, I had a warm, fuzzy feeling inside when I installed IE 4, "activated" my desktop and saw how my Explorer, taskbar and Windows interface became "Webified." How Sweet Is It? The IE 4 suite is actually pretty sweet. The developer's platform preview, which I tested at Network Computing's University of Wisconsin lab, is exactly that: a prebeta version for developers. If you are not an experienced Windows user, you will not want it on your computer. If you purchase it, though, you will have a chanc e to tie your desktop to the Web. With its shell extensions, IE 4 makes navigating your file system similar to navigating the Web. The Windows Explorer looks more like a Web browser--its buttons, icons, links and mouse pointers are all Webified. (This is a preview of what you will see in Memphis, the next version of Windows.) I like the new interface because it lets me explore directories using single clicks instead of double clicks. With IE 4, your desktop also becomes an extension of your browser, and you can display any HTML content on the desktop. Native to the operating system, these extensions are seamless and easy to become accustomed to. And they don't tax your Windows resources too much. Beware of security issues, though. These extensions are made possible by ActiveX--among other innovations--so the tighter the ActiveX integration, the greater the risk.

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