Jim Barksdale

If you wrote off Jim Barksdale and Netscape as merely the latest victims of Microsoft, now might be a good time to drop a note of apology in the mail.

Sure, Microsoft may come to dominate the Internet, just like it dominates desktop computing today. But as Barksdale is fond of saying, the Internet won't be a winner-take-all game. And he's positioning Netscape to profit no matter what happens with Microsoft.

Right now, Barksdale and company are on a roll. In its 1997 third quarter, revenue rocketed up 50%, while profit jumped 53%. Not bad for a company that supposedly is being crushed by the giant from Redmond. What's more, the hand of fate - in the form of the U.S. Department of Justice - has reached into the Internet browser battle, putting a squeeze on Microsoft's plans.

Barksdale not only runs the Internet's most visible company, he's also a leader of the high-tech keiretsu - a Japanese term describing companies linked by mutual obligation and interest - that includes Scott McNealy's Sun Microsystems, Inc., Lou Gerstner's IBM, Larry Ellison's Oracle Corp. and Eric Schmidt's Novell, Inc. Their common interest: slowing Microsoft's relentless advance and ensuring the success of Java and open Internet computing.

As if protecting Netscape and the future of the Internet weren't enough, Barksdale this year teamed up with top venture capitalist John Doerr (see his profile) to cochair the Technology Network, a new political action committee aimed at giving Silicon Valley and the computing industry a greater voice in setting the national agenda.

Will Barksdale's job get any easier in '98? Not unless Bill Gates gets warm and cuddly all of a sudden. But Barksdale, the former chief information officer of Federal Express Corp., is no stranger to big fights. His courtly demeanor masks a tough competitor who has no intention of walking away.

NEXT: Eric Benhamou