Netscape Expands the Offering With More Browser Source Code nytimes.com
In the weeks since Netscape released its source code of its main browser to the world, governments have trembled, businesses have been born, and thousands of critics been silenced by the gift of the metaphorical candle and matches by which they can light their darkness.
And the E faction of the rebel N.O.I.S.E. Alliance gets some arms to join the battle. Could it be, innovation at work here? Nah, innovation is what the trustbusters are trying to stifle, and they're letting this one go by. Bill told us so, it must be true.
Aside from the company line press coverage about where developers really want to go, and investment types saying you can't make money like this, most of the press on the free source thing has been favorable, but I figured pretty much a technoweenie thing. But, this is the good gray Times, so I guess visibility is a little better than I thought. Sorta like Bill and the most watched congressional hearings ever, I thought it was just me.
The first round of interest has already paid off handsomely for Netscape. One week after the source code was released, the company sent out another updated version containing a number of bug fixes. Paquin said: "We've heard, 'You really expect people to spend their spare time making your products better?'" But, he says the new version contained 1,398 new lines of code and 638 lines that were removed, mostly at the recommendation of people reading the source code and finding bugs.
Sucks Less! New Features! Well, just the former for now, but that's what I prefer anyway. Funny thing is, for all its resources, there must be an extremely finite number of people at Microsoft in the business of fixing bugs, I mean "known issues". There's supposed to be 400 people on NT5 development, a pretty small number considering the scope and importance of that project. How many people there have source access and a charter to fix bugs on existing products? IE? NT4? The ghost of Windows past? Strange though it may seem, I got a feeling "free source" Nav may end up a lot more robust than some think. Bill, free your code!
Still, everyone agrees that the easiest part may be over. Paquin acknowledges that the biggest challenges for Netscape will be managing the growth of source code. Phillips argues that handling some of the bigger problems will require discipline and detailed knowledge of the source code. "The best thing Netscape can do is keep people interested, because then people can become qualified" to make big changes, he said. "Then we'll really see the progress coming."
New Features! Sucks Less! Embrace and demolish that!
Cheers, Dan. |
