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Re: Netscape goes GPL.



On Sat, 24 Jan 1998, Ira Abramov wrote:

> > 7. During this discussion, someone compared Hebrew support for X to
> >    Titanic project. As almost all of you know, I already did it, in
> >    addition to dozens of other projects I did. It works perfectly,
> 
> yes, Eli, we know. this IS, however a linux list and I have yet to see
> this thing run on linux.
>
That is what I was discreetly implying ;) I didn't know that he did the
port.

> 
> Now that the navigator sources will be open to Linux, I'd like to see you
> patch lesstiff to do Hebrew, because now we can make a dynamically linked
> browser.
> 
> > 9. One claimed that freeing the sources of Netscape will improve it.
> >    Unfortunately, the technical problem of Netscape is not lacking
> ...
> >    Freeing the sources will allow Netscape to have many more
> >    "exciting" features which nobody will need, but the stability will
> >    not be improved.
> 
> again, if you paralellize this to the linux kernel and apache server
> projects, you will see how the benefit of thousands of more eyes studying
> the sources is very usefull for bug and security hole fixing. I think the
> stability WILL improve, but maybe the flood of features will stop too,
> because now the product development will not be pushed by a money-hungry
> corporation, but by a stability-hungry group of hackers. Go see apache
> again...
                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ with all due respect, if I ever
saw a tautology, then, this is *the* one. To ensure stability the authors
of Apache had to add their own provisions to the copyright of said server.
Otherwise it would be at about pl 119 (as lynx is for example). Anyway,
it's legal and ok. The people most qualified to do it and who have the
resources, shack up and freeze a version, and maintain it. It's a good way
to have stable distributions. The guys who did that, practically ceased to
be hackers in the proper sense of the word...

> 
> 
> > P.S. The most important feature of a software product, as I claim
> > again and again, is its source availability. But it is important
> > only for us, as potential "customers"; It doesn't help Netscape :-(
> 
> it does help their image, their worries for the entire development process
> etc.
> NC has brought the Navigator as a product to a very mature stage. it was
> never bound to be a very profitable product anyway, and now they can
> concentrate on building a better server.
> 
> On Sat, 24 Jan 1998, Alexander Indenbaum wrote:
> 
> > First of all free source does not meen only GPL
> > In the same way as Free Unix does not meen  only Linux.
> 
> read the PR again, I think they state there pretty clear that it's going
> to be GPL.
> 
> I find it smart, it means that Microsoft can't steal their sources to
> incorporate in IE...
> 
> > And another point.
> > We already have sources for browser - Mosaic
> > MASTER_SITES=   ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Web/Mosaic/Unix/source/
> 
> and who wrote that? go check again... Netscape is BASED on an early
> Mosaic. Mosaic also lacks a lot of functionality that netscape has, it's
> almost closer to lynx than to navigator.
And all three, lynx, Mosaic and Navigator, violate one of the most basic
UNIX principles: Each application shall do one certain operation, but that
extremely well.