I'm firmly on the sidelines regarding the stock, but I'm following Netscape's decision to release their source code with interest. I have to admit that it doesn't make sense to me. I heard the author of the White Paper interviewed on NPR, and he made an eloquent case for releasing the source code. However, the benefits strike me as illusory, and the risks substantial. IMO there's no question that Netscape should give the browser away, or even pay vendors to include it with their systems if necessary (and if legal). But what does releasing the source code to the world do for the company, other than endear them to the hard core who already hate Microsoft anyway? I don't see any real benefits that couldn't be just as easily gained by sharing the code (accompanied by NDA's) with a subset of the programming community willing to partner with Netscape.
The most substantial argument against releasing the source is that it will fragment the user base. I heard the Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft interviewed today, and he made precisely that point. Builders of all but the simplest Web sites need to be able to test against all of the browsers they can reasonably expect to visit their site in volume. If you're going to have multiple strains of Netscape out there, this testing is going to become more onerous and results when using these variant browsers will be more unpredictable.
Maybe I'm too paranoid, but I think another potential problem is that access to the source code makes it much easier to introduce a virus to the browser. When I say this I'm not just considering the obvious possibility of someone building a Netscape variant that engages in some sort of destructive behavior, although this is certainly a concern. It also seems to me that knowledge of the source code makes it easier to develop a virus patch which can be inserted into a crucial section of the existing binary code. There's probably more than one 15 year old out there who's already trying this. I'm not a hard core expert so I'm not certain that this is feasible, but my general philosophy in considering risks to my programs is that if I can think of it, it will eventually happen. The irony of ironies would be if this was accomplished by someone using an ActiveX control as the delivery mechanism.
All in all I'm surprised at how little discussion there has been here about what seems to me a rather momentous decision. (I did only go back about two weeks, my apologies to the thread if it was hashed to death before that). I understand that Netscape is looking to reinvent itself moving forward, but it seems to me that their main advantage as they try to do this is their existing browser franchise - and, of course, the widespread hatred of Microsoft ;-). If this decision hurts that franchise, as I believe it will, then it can't help but hurt the company. Of course it's quite possible that I'm missing something, and that this will turn out to be the most brilliant move anyone's made since Bill Gates first decided that he was going to charge money for his software. Time will tell.
FWIW,
Mark |
