Top Reasons For March 31 Release
Mark Rauterkus
Hi,
I imagine the party is about to hit full swing now. Sorry I can't be
there. Since every party needs a pooper, my wish is for your party's
worst pooper turn out to be nothing worse than a lame email messages,
such as this. So, with the spirit of a party mood.....
- - - - - - - - -
Some Top Reasons Why Netscape Communications Corp. needed to release
Mozilla Source Code on March 31, 1998.
- - - - - - - - -
10. The Animated Gif Contest has to get off the ground ASAP -- as there
are some 10-million users craving new, frivious eye-candy for the corners
of their web browser windows.
9. The mindshare battle for bleeding-edge tech elite and bug scavengers
looms at a feverish pitch with dawn of Windows 98.
8. 3M comes to stand for 3-million lines of code and the third month?
7. If given a few more hours/days/weeks, concerned netizens and those on
the Mozilla email discussion list (and newsgroup) might find a perfect
solution to the whole license scheme. If the ideal license solution
didn't emerge, then it wouldn't have been too much fun to watch the
launching spam attacks against posters who repeat the same things over
and over and over and over again.
6. April 1 was just too much to wish for.
5. If any further delays were to occur, the Netscape executives and/or
board members might get up to speed on what is really happening to a key
proprietary asset, pull the plugs on the Mozilla web servers and quickly
stage an encounter workshop at a Northern California Spa (complete with
mud baths and a tar-pit cleansing ritual to signify the Zilla rebirth.)
Then, in the afterglow of a clear mind and body cleansing, Netscaper
staffers might be of the mindset to accept some of the hundred of reasons
why a one-time snapshot of its current development could have made for a
stupendious IPO.
<soapbox observation>
March 31, Netscape's 2nd IPO -- Initial Public Offering. Netscape's
initial IPO went into orbit -- fueled by Wall Street, Main Street and
most of all, nuances. Subtle elements split the difference between the
very good and the "oh-my-god, we-can't-believe-it, awesomeness" that was
hoped for from Netscape. The March 31st Initial Public Offering of Source
Code -- well, IMHO, isn't like Netscape's prior IPO.
</soapbox observation>
4. Because the PRESS Releases that promised a March 31st code release was
written and mailed in January using a 2-for-1 special coupon from Mail
Boxes Etc., paid for, no less, with a Netscape stock options. A release
date delay and the re-issues of new stock options could have caused a
blip in the stock-market capable of sinking frail economies throughout
the world.
3. The release was needed on March 31 so as to save a couple-hundred
people with PINK Slips the pain of doing low-level disk reformatting.
And, 3B) -- Since Netscape was worried that CD-ROM versions of the
Mozilla source code wouldn't appear in the earliest hours from
repackagers, Netscape, in its unabated wisdom and kind-hearted ways, has
made it possible and practicle for former employees to fill a marketplace
need by providing tape back-ups of their hard disks to future-Zilla
contributors.
2. The hungry developers, sans source code, had too much time on their
hands throughout March (although good showings from Princton and
Stanford hoopsters did keep a few techies up with office pools and sports
bars for some hours). Developers spent too much time engaging in the
planning of elaborate splits to the source code tree.
1. Jamie's party!
- - - - - - - - - - -
--------------
Mark Rauterkus, Publisher E-books work in classrooms!
http://SportSurf.Net/
--------------