[CLUG] Nautilus 1.0 is out

[adam beecher]

> Mozilla has to be one of the most complicated open source projects EVER.
> Two years from birth to where we are now is an amazing achievement.
>
> As for AOL doing the dirty on NS, who do you think is funding the 100+
> engineers (which includes me), managers & testers that Netscape have
> working on Mozilla?
>
*koff* Konqueror *koff*. 'Scuse me, I seem to have a frog in my throat.
*koff* Nautilus *koff*.

Ok, I'm taking the micky a bit, and I agree with you, it is a major
achievment. But I also believe that the achievement would have been a lot
quicker in coming without Netscape/AOL. Why? Because Netscape lost the
browser plot when they lost the browser war. AOL invested in Netscape, and
the very next day announced that their default bundled browser would be
MSIE.

The blame can be laid at both AOL and Netscape's doors for this: AOL for
being sneaky little corporate worms; and Netscape for being naive in the
extreme (or clever in the extreme, depending on how much they knew
beforehand). The end result though, was that the Netscape 4 code became
stagnant, and the waiting for Netscape 6 just went on, and on, and on.
Netscape became a content company (at the browser end of the business), and
browser bedamned.

As to complication, well, maybe I'm not seeing the wood for the trees here,
but I have to say that although Moz is a pretty complex project, there's
plenty more out there just as, if not more complex. PHP and Apache are two
quick examples that keep shoving cross-platform innovation in our faces,
month after month. Workable innovation. Netscape/Mozilla hasn't even reached
the starting blocks yet.

Again, I'm sorry if you take offense to this, but Netscape 6 sucks big time.
rpm -i, browse, rpm -e, bye-bye Netscape 6. Ok, you've maybe put a lot of
work into it, and who's to say whether it would have been worse or better
without your input. But the proof as it stands is in the pudding. It's
bloody _annoying_ to use. Moz.8 is better - it's getting closer to something
workable, but it can still be maddening at times.

And finally, as to funding, yes, AOL are funding it. Which - from my point
of view - proves my whole point. AOL have to look "innovation" up in the
dictionary. They don't understand and don't care about it. All AOL care
about is the bottom line. Sadly though, it's not just AOL that's guilty of
that. It's how all corporations work now. That's the really sad thing.
There's no pride anymore. Just the bottom line.

adam