[PLUG] Netscape news

["Arthur S. Alexion" <arthur@alexion.com>]

Kevin Yank
techtimes@sitepoint.com
Editor, The SitePoint Tech Times

Netscape Gone... can Mozilla survive?

In a long-anticipated announcement last week, Netscape owner AOL-Time Warner finally put a stop to new development on the browser. The recently released Netscape 7.1 will be the final version of the Netscape browser.

Ever since Microsoft settled its legal problems with AOL-Time Warner late in May, ensuring that Internet Explorer would remain the basis for the AOL online service for years to come, Netscape has been living on borrowed time. Though a good browser, thanks to the efforts of the Mozilla project, the latest versions have basically been cluttered variations of the austere Mozilla browser attempting to push services from the company's online portal, Netscape.com.

That said, Netscape developers made a significant contribution to the Mozilla project themselves -- a contribution that will no doubt be sorely missed now that those developers are looking for new jobs.

Possibly more important to the long-term survival of the Mozilla browser is establishing a higher profile among the general Internet community. Open-source projects like Mozilla aren't renouned for their advertising budgets, and if the only people who know about Mozilla are developers like you and I, the corporate sponsorships that make it go won't last for long.

Related News Stories:

• AOL kills Netscape The Register
• Mozilla.org announces launch of the Mozilla Foundation to lead open-source browser efforts Mozilla.org

The pessamistic point is that this will have a negative effect on
Mozilla development.

I sent this in the original HTML to preserve the internal links.  I
hope this doesn't trouble anyone.
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