I've been thinking a lot about the NSCP news of the day; I still can't get over what an awesome move that was. A few thoughts....
Releasing source code:
1) The developer crowd that will be working on Navigator is zero loss to IE market share--those people have been Netscapers all the way (most by choice, but also because they primarily run UNIX).
2) Netscape is going to save a ton of R&D money by allowing others people to develop their software for them.
3) Netscape product development, I assume, will accelerate to extremely fast levels--I wonder if Microsoft will be able to keep up (particularly because Microsoft is handicapped because IE is the OS, they need to maintain top quality/stability).
Depending what Netscape can do with OEMs, Microsoft's IE market share growth could get a lot tougher....
....Then again, I believe that Netscape had previously been licensing Navigator/Communicator for a very small amount of money.
....And of course, Microsoft also announced today that they will allow OEMs to remove the IE icon. So a lot depends on what happens on that front, but more importantly, which browser is made the "default" those system--the first one a user sees could very well be the only one they use.
I think OEM agreements should be the top priority.
I'm anxious to see what Microsoft's next move will be. Personally, I'm unsure (right now, at least--but I know I'll come up with something, eventually :) about what Microsoft could do next on the client side. But if I were them, I would make absolutely certain that I hammered the hell out of Netscape on the server side. I mean, the news is all about the clients, but I think it's just a distraction now--since Netscape is now putting everything into servers, Microsoft needs to be sure to focus there.
So basically, Microsoft needs to win the consumer market from the client side with OEM support and bundling deals with ISPs/Online Services. And they need to win the corporate market with servers (as well as fight like hell to keep IE integrated with Windows, but that should go without saying).
Sal |
