[WEB4LIB] The beginning of the end for the Netscape Browser???

[Thomas Dowling]

>
> http://browserwatch.internet.com/news/stories2001/news-20010606-1.html
>

The *beginning* of the end?  I'd say that ship sailed when mozilla.org
dumped the 5.0 source code in the bit bucket.  This brings the actual end
in sight.

On the other hand, with the brinksmanship between AOL and Microsoft over
space on the XP desktop, instant messaging, and Komodo, it's hard to
accept any statement like this at face value right now.  After all, "six
months from now, you won't consider Netscape to be a browser company"
doesn't really say, "we're getting out."

My guess is that Netscape will honor its commitments to Mozilla by keeping
developers assigned to it until Mozilla 1.0 and the corresponding Netscape
version roll out, then leave Mozilla to its own devices.  They could keep
a Netscape browser alive with very little effort after that by gleaning
from the open source codebase.

For me, the real end will be when all versions of 4.x are removed from the
Netscape download page.  That will be a bright day.


Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu