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Sun Open Sources the Netscape Enterprise Server

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the practical-nostalgia dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Brian Aker has announced that Sun has open sourced the Netscape Enterprise Server under the BSD license. This is the evolution of the original server Netscape sold in the '90s during the rise of the first bubble. Almost twenty years later, Apache's original competitor is now made available for anyone to use under an open source license."

10 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. Relevant? by bradgoodman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is this even relevant anymore? Does anyone even care?

    1. Re:Relevant? by htnmmo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      For those that still use it/need it might have to support it it's good. It's also an important part of internet history.

    2. Re:Relevant? by athakur999 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So we always talk about how companies should open source software that is no longer being maintained or sold... then when a company actually does it, we say "who cares".

      --
      "People that quote themselves in their signatures bother me" - athakur999
    3. Re:Relevant? by ducomputergeek · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It can't hurt. As much of pain as it is to operate in mixed environments, we deploy a mix of lighttpd and apache web server for the very reason that even if a major bug or exploit is found in one, about half our front end systems would still be available while the others are being patched.

      The more options the better in my book.

      --
      "The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
    4. Re:Relevant? by ACMENEWSLLC · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Na, only a few people said who care. I say "Cool, another open source product."

      I'll never use as a developer, but another free option is always good. Like someone else said, maybe there is some good code in there. Perhaps projects I do use will benefit from this.

      Kudos to Sun.

    5. Re:Relevant? by HiThere · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There are those who say "Who cares?", but there will always be short-sighted ones.

      I have no *personal* interest in the Netscape server, but I'm glad that it's open and available. It may someday be crucial, and if not, it's good insurance.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    6. Re:Relevant? by AKAImBatman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Java software is portable and generally a hell of a lot less painful to setup and configure. (Which I guarantee from experience, Apache DS is much smoother than SJDS.) Believe it or not, there's a hell of a lot of advantages to having your server software written in Java.

      If you have a bias against Java, you might want to check it at the door pronto. You're cutting yourself off from some of the best server-side software in the industry.

      --
      Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  2. Searching for sites still using this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Can something like this: http://www.yellowpipe.com/yis/tools/craftnet/

    be used to find sites still running on this ancient software? Perhaps people will find an exploitable part of the code and take down an ancient web site!

  3. What next? OS/2? by netglen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Shouldn't this announcement be placed under "too little, too late"?

  4. Open source by ClosedSource · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Where all the failed projects go to die.

    Perhaps open source projects should be split into two categories (inspired by MIB II):

    Old and busted:
    Netscape Enterprise Server

    New Hotness:
    Apache