[WEB4LIB] Re: Imminent Netscape demise

[Darryl Friesen]

>> Remember that IE only runs on Windows platforms (you can also get
>> it for MacOS).  That means that the increasing number of academics
>> and library technologists who use OSs like Linux would be left out
>> in the cold if it weren't for Netscape.
>
> That is really such a key point.

It's not quite true however.  IE 5 is available for both Solaris and HP-UX
(see http://www.microsoft.com/unix/ie/).

>  And it's not just Linux specifically,
> it's the whole principle of the thing: how anyone could advocate a
> single-platform browser over one that was cross-platform compatible in
> this day and age is beyond me.  And yet many people are so
> Windows-centric that they aren't even aware of, or can't conceive of,
> anything beyond 'that other operating system' and it's 'my way or the
> highway' browser ;>

I have both WinME and Red Hat 7.1 on my machine at home.  My biggest problem
with Linux?  No IE.  I hope Microsoft expands their Unix support beyond the
two flavors above and begins to see Linux as an untapped market.

>> But more to the point it's also generally just silly to wish for
>> competition on any industry to die.

Granted, but Netscape isn't/wasn't the only competition.


- Darryl

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  Darryl Friesen, B.Sc., Programmer/Analyst    Darryl.Friesen at usask.ca
  Education & Research Technology Services,     http://gollum.usask.ca/
  Department of Computing Services,
  University of Saskatchewan
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  "Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes"