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January 22, 1998

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Free: Browser and Source Code!


Today was a pretty slow news day....but Netscape did make two announcements -- one was widely expected and one is very curious. The first is that Netscape will be giving away its Navigator and Communicator products. Bravo! Now the browser wars can take place on a level playing field (the DOJ/Microsoft deal doesn't hurt) and Netscape should be in better shape to recapture lost share against IE.

The second and far more intriguing bit of news is that Netscape will be giving away source code to its next generation browser. That's right, source code, so that hackers everywhere can finally add their favorite features, such as user assignable keystrokes. This is an unprecedented move, rumored to be driven by Marc Andreessen, that puts the power in the hands of developers and corporations to tweak Navigator to their own liking.

Developers ought to be really excited about this, but whether it actually results in a better Netscape product remains to be seen. More likely, it will spawn the development and innovation of all kinds of related browsing, email, and newsgroup products. For enterprises, however, this move to a freeware development model may cause some support concerns. And this whole idea makes the software industry wonder "Do we all have to post our source now?" Don't count on it.

The real question here is whether posting source code will lead to better products. What do you think?


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