Netscape browser for Free *and* distribution of source code

[Isabel Danforth]

I had to go to 


and this paragraph really caught my attention also 


In addition, the company is making its currently available Netscape
Navigator and Communicator Standard Edition 4.0
software products immediately free for all users. With this action,
Netscape makes it easier than ever for individuals at home,
at school or at work to choose the world's most popular Internet client
software as their preferred interface to the Internet. 

Isabel




At 06:24 PM 1/22/98 -0800, Peter Murray wrote:
>The news today, along with the news from Microsoft vs. The United States,
>has an item about Netscape giving away Communicator for free beginning
>Monday.  What isn't in the popular news press is the fact that beginning
>with Communicator 5.0 Netscape will be posting the source code on their
>site!  From http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/980122/ca_netscap_3.html:
>
>  Netscape, plans to make Netscape Communicator 5.0 source code available
>  for modification and redistribution beginning later this quarter with
>  the first developer release of the product. The company will handle
>  free source distribution with a license that allows source code
>  modification and redistribution and provides for free availability of
>  source code versions, building on the heritage of the GNU Public
>  License (GPL), familiar to developers on the Net. Netscape intends
>  to create a special Web site service where all interested parties
>  can download the source code, post their enhancements, take part in
>  newsgroup discussions, and obtain and share Communicator related
>  information with others in the Internet community. Netscape will
>  also continue to develop new technologies and offer periodic certified,
>  high-quality, supported releases of its Netscape Communicator and
>  Navigator products, incorporating some of the best features created
>  by this dynamic community. 
>
>So, what I think this means is that if there are specific features of a
>powerful web browser that the library community wants, we just need a few
>energetic individuals to do the programming work and make the results
>available to the rest of us.
>
>Personally, this sounds like it is going to be a big mess.  These browsers
>have a huge amount of source code and it will likely be difficult to modify
>one piece of if without affecting the stability of the rest.  But still, it
>would be nice to try!
>
>
>Peter
>--
>Peter Murray, Library Systems Manager                    pem at po.cwru.edu
>Digital Media Services                 http://www.cwru.edu/home/pem.html
>Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio          W:216-368-5888
>
>
>
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Isabel L. Danforth   Reference Librarian, Wethersfield Public Library
danforth at tiac.net     Coordinator of Librarians' Online Support Team
		       http://admin.gnacademy.org:8001/~lost/ 
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