On Sat, Jun 15, 2002, Eliran wrote about "Re: Mozilla Netscape relationship ?":
> 
> >Netscape originally wanted to name their browser "mosaic", but they were
> >not allowed. Still, they named it internally Mozilla (Mosaic Godsilla).
> 
> So thats why the netscape icon on the fvwm-icons packages is called:
> Mosaic.xpm ...

Sic transit gloria mundi...

> >Years later, in 1998, netscape decided to release the source code of the
> >netscape communicator.
> 
> Because of the Cathedral & The Bazaar document ?

To anyone interested in open source or free software and still haven't
read O'Reilly's "Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution"
(January 1999, ISBN 1-56592-582-3), I suggest you do (it's available online,
and you can also buy it if you care to see them make a profit).

Specifically, it has a chapter "Freeing the Source: The Story of Mozilla"
(HTML version: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/netrev.html).
It explains how indeed ESR's "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" had something
to do with it:
   "....Netscape executives were discussing a whitepaper by Frank Hecker that
    expressed a view coming to the forefront. In it he advocated that Netscape
    free its source. Frank had done his homework, citing Eric Raymond's paper,
    "The Cathedral and the Bazaar," and talking to people in departments
    throughout the organization--from engineering to marketing to management.
    In a twenty-page opus that was widely circulated, he pled the case that
    was gaining momentum..."

Another relevant quote from that article:
   "The body of Communicator source code at Netscape was called "Mozilla."
    Mozilla was a term initially created by Jamie Zawinsky and company during
    the development of Navigator. The team was working at a similarly frantic
    pace to create a beast vastly more powerful than Mosaic, and the word
    became the official code name for Navigator. Later the big green dinosaur
    became an inside joke, then a company mascot, and finally a public symbol."

> >The browser that Netscape Inc. releases (Netscape Communicator) is
> >basically the same browser produced by mozilla, but also includes some
> 
> What does 'the same' means ?

La meme chose?
Oto Hadavar?

The "Netscape 6" (and now "Netscape 7") code is simply the same Mozilla code
you know, with some additions and tweaks Tzafrir described so eloquently in
his post. It's not a "fork" - the latest "Netscape" is always based on the
latest (or a recent stable version of) Mozilla code, with the addition of
the same non-open-source stuff.



-- 
Nadav Har'El                        |     Saturday, Jun 15 2002, 6 Tammuz 5762
[EMAIL PROTECTED]             |-----------------------------------------
Phone: +972-53-245868, ICQ 13349191 |It's fortunate I have back luck - without
http://nadav.harel.org.il           |it I would have no luck at all!

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