Netscape Decision Could Alter Software Industry nytimes.com
A bit of commentary on the other hot news of late. This column's favorable, though plenty of people are scratching their heads. But, I think Andreeson has this one right:
Thus it is understandable that many people in the software industry think that Netscape has lost its corporate mind for posting a crown jewel on the Internet for anyone to scrutinize, copy and modify.
But Marc Andreessen, one of Netscape's founders and its executive vice president for products, said that given the company's death race with Microsoft, it had little choice.
Anyway, it started out as free software, so it's a return to roots of sort.
The proponents of free software say that freedom is about liberty, not price -- free speech, as they say, not free beer.
I like that one. Maybe free cigarettes would be a better analogy though, given the Windows jones the world is developing.
Many people, including Netscape's Andreessen, believe that the growing popularity of free software like Linux may signal a shift in how the software industry conducts business.
"If I'm the chief information officer in my company, I don't want programmers mucking around in the source code," Brown said. "You never know what else breaks when they fix something." On the other hand, he said, the quality of Linux and its steady market growth is "fascinating."
Given its success, added Brown, and the obvious interest in free software, it seems possible that "the next iteration of Internet standards will not be governed by people who want to make money."
Well, we can hope.
Cheers, Dan. |
