Re: NETSCAPE: free browser, free source

Lee Daniel Crocker (lcrocker@mercury.colossus.net)
Thu, 22 Jan 1998 23:00:26 -0800 (PST)


> [In reply to Netscape's announcement of their release of
> Navigator, including source, for free]
>
> This takes cujones. I shurely hope that that they will succed. If they
> do, it could change how software is developed for good.

This is perhaps a bit courageous, perhaps a bit desperate, but
also inevitable. The age of proprietary software is over; the
dominance of copyright is dead. This is merely the first in what
will become the new model of software distribution: the popular
stuff is free, and serves to advertise your customized, limited-
market, and service products. Creative talent and technical
expertise is the product, and with the instant distribution and
duplication and open competition of the Net, it will be impossible
for any company to sit on its ass /after/ development and rake in
cash for yesterday's work.

Anyone care to take bets on how long it will be before Word and
Excel are free? My money is on sometime before 2002.

Though I am not surprized by the move, I'm shocked that it was
actually Netscape Corporation who managed to do something right.
Of course, they probably don't realize it, and will probably
cling like drowning rats to the old model on all their other
products, but I suppose there is hope.

--
Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html>
"All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past,
are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified
for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC