The XBox will do well. No denying it. I will buy one. 299 for what it comes with is a damn good deal. (i dunno what crackpipe your smoking.. the ps2 costs 299 and doesn't come with nearly the same amount of hardware and who wants to play a bunch of rehashed psx games)
Its simple. The XBox will outperform the now 2 year old PS2 design. The XBOX will have more memory, more storage, networking out of the box and a better API to program.
Everyone knows the PS2 is a bitch to program for. Sure directx isn't the end all, but any joe schmoe can learn it.
I want to see how the GameCube and the Xbox do. I could care less about the PS2.. PS2 is last years garbage
there is no system, it is a public network. 36k isn't bad for sitting at a park reading slashdot.
can't cary your dsl to park. if you want global 802.11 11mbit then your going to have to pay for it.. otherwise shuddup and thank them for setting up free access.
You don't FORCE anyone to do anything. Atleast if you live in the USA you don't force users to try something different, it was afterall the users that made Microsoft a Defacto. (just like you may choose to make linux your defacto).
Doesn't mean microsoft is a monopoly when it is the easiest to use, most intuitive and simple operating system that my grandma can run.
you still have a choice. Its not like the monopolistic phone company (verizon) or cable companies (comcast) that exist.
i can't route the cable coming into my house through another company, yet i can and have always been able to choose my os.
sue compusa for not selling linux, os/2. Sue the end users for choosing what they choose, sue your business for limiting how you work. Microsoft had nothing to do with the choices we made. You could have chosen to buy a mac, you could have bought a computer with OS/2 pre-installed back in the day. You could have bought an amiga..
just like you could have bought a dreamcast or a ps2.. nobody bitched and complaine or sued sony for being monopolistic. After all it was sony who sind noncompete with its core developers to make sure they didn't do anything but playstation games. microsoft isn't the only one playing this "game" or being a "monopoly".
Ofcourse i get flaimbaited for having an opinion. Slashdot can suck my left nut.. this isn't a forum for geeks, its a forum for crackheads and 14 year olds who are pissed off school starts next week.
geezus how lame can this place get these days? slashdot turned 10 several times now, we have seen how to roll your own dsl what 4-5 times now? A linux program going commercial? what, wasn't it just 2 weeks ago when i read this about tuxracer and everything was misconstrued?
oh well. i won't loose anything by not waisting my time in here anymore..
screw having karma, it doesn't mean anything obviosly in this "forum"
I mean, Windows XP is nice. It has more bundled software and features then you can shake a stick at.
Price is affordable, for the upgrade 100-200.00 seems like alot, but your getting legal mp3 encoding software, legal cd recording software, an os upgrade, compatibility with prior software and a fairly common platform that you can go to any store and buy software and hardware for.
While linux is improving nicely, it still lacks heavily in any music reporduction, media interfaces business applications. I'd rather pay 199.00 bucks for something that works out of the box and comes with lots of software then several hours downloading, burning iso's and then chasing down the latest versions of all apps waisting a whole entire weekend or business days (thus costing more then the 199.00 XP package).
I'm not dissing linux, and not praising XP. Its just time for everyone to get off there totem poll and just use what is out there. You have your choices, microsoft has stopped blocking OEM's from shipping other programs and that is what the antitrust case should have been about. It shouldn't be about a browser that is included, you can install any browser you wish.
So now people will sue microsoft because it/they still include apps within the os.
Nobody sues IBM for OS/2 that was bundled with a browser (warp 3 & 4), Nobody sued Sun for including the ancient java browser and prefering that you use there browser.
Nobody sued Redhat for defaulting to the gnome desktop and making it hard for people to get KDE (which as of 7.2 will be a thing of the past.. redhat is more desktop agnostic now). But still, if i have to download the rpm's for netscape or mozilla on any other platform why the hell is it so hard for a windows user to download and run an installer for that application on the Windows platform?
Windows is microsoft's product afterall. They can decide what and how they want to to work and do. Just like you can decide what and how you want to use it!
Nobody is holding a gun to your head. Personally XP will be my desktop and laptop OS, linux will be my Server/web/email os and linux will also be a developer os (since i can code for my dreamcast and other devices fairly easily).
If joe gamer has 299.00 burning his pocket and one system comes out before another and both are feature rich joe gamer will probably by one or the other and not both. So yes, it does affect the market. If xbox sells 4 million units the first month while the gamecube does 2 million then developers will hit the xbox because they have better percentages.
Platform dependance is a thing of the past, most developers are agnostic now, WITH THE exception of gamecube developers.. so it could be just another repeat of n64.. with the exception of ibm vs sgi now.
How is the price on the XBox rediculous? The PS2 costs 299 and comes with less. The PS2 was also bundled for 899 when you pre-ordered (some were 499) and such, and hell the PS2 on ebay was 2grand!
For the same price the xbox has harddrive, ethernet, modem and more games. The PS2 delivered one of the games a year after release (grand torismo) and hasn't even produced metal gear whatever.
Meanwhile my 79.00 dreamcasts kicks everyones ass:)
PriceWatch.com(tm) has the most up to date pricelist for all computer peripherals including these great AMD MP systems. Currently you can get a tyan mobo, single 1ghz MP cpu, and cooler fan for about 409.00. You can buy the lower end SMP mobo for ~250 and the higher end (with scsi) for ~300.00. CPU prices, motherboard prices and all other hardware prices are adjusted on a daily basis.
Buy up so the demand will lower the price. The tyan motherboard is a great board. You can get ddr memory (512 meg chips) for less than 30 bucks now!
http://www.pricewatch.com - just click on cpu/motherboard combos and select from the two mp combinations or simply select cpu, motherboard, memory and fans to build your own.
Then why doesn't the allmightly low and behold catholic church go to brazil and preach its ethics? Isn't religion supposed to be a foundation of life? If the catholic religion was the real basis for what you base your beliefs on then why doesn't everyone believe it?
For the simple fact that you or your region aren't absolute. IF you want to make a difference it is something YOUR doing and not your religion. Go brazil, stop the epidemic! Teach your population and don't be a part of the tyranny of corporatism and absolute beliefs in religion.
Old timer or not, if your "religion" can make a difference then why not DO SOMETHING about it. Atleast the mormons do something for brazilian families. I have yet to see catholics do anything besides complain.
Hey, religion is kid, being a part of something is good. Teaching people is good, but crediting the problems of brazil to not having faith in the catholic church is just insane.
I have to agree, there is a time and place for IP, but aids isn't that place.
If you lived in a population where aids is of epidemic proportions but it costs so much to get vaccinated what would you do? Die so another company can profit?
Sure the government should have licensed the medication, but on the other hand, the profiteering and money grubbing developers should have provided for brazil long before they needed to make this stance.
Its ironic how we think IP in technology is different then IP in medicine. Why is it right for people to patent vacinations that could save your life, but it isn't right for someone to patent an interface that has no position of life or death?
Music is licensed. You don't own the music, you own the media it comes on, but you can't just go make copies and give it to your friends, the license restricts you from doing such.
Been that way for years!
Same with DVD's. You don't own the movie. You can sell your rights and pass the disk along to others but you can't keep copies since you no longer have the rights to watch that movie.
Sure mp3.com being sued sucks, but like it has been said already, Vivendi owns Mp3.com and told all the indie acts to screw off and it has been down hill since then.
Infact i'd like to see all ipo companies burn up, if they're in it for the money then i could care less. Yeah, you have to pay the bills, but last i heard private companies weren't firing 1,200 people to inflate there stock value! you might get fired if the going gets rough.. totally off subject now, but yeah. you don't own shit. You don't own windows, you own the right to run windows, you do own your car, the only license you have is dependant on your state and you must maintain that license and any qualifications of it. You don't own your license, you are granted a right to use under the freedoms of your blessed state and countries.
Just like you don't own the town you pay taxes in just because you pay for it.
Now that linux can replace all the "gnu" stuff with "original" unix counterparts, doesn't this effectlively create a true linux distribution free of the laws of the FSF? Interestingly enough IMHO the free software foundations freedoms seem restrictive. What is true freedom if you have to have a license to restrict that freedom? Gimme the good old public domain days!
I hope they can release a compiler!:)
Never trust IBM with software visions (ahem, OS/2)
on
IBM Wants Linux
·
· Score: 2, Troll
It was only 2 years ago when IBM dropped a huge majority of custome solutions for Windows NT platforms.
It was 3 years ago when the ball dropped on the infamouse (and powerfull) OS/2 solution. (well, someoen over at http://www.ecomstation.com is picking up now).
IBM Changes software and solutions like there is no tommorow. If it isn't Calle E-Gizmo then IBM will change it to that.
IBM Supporting linux is great, hooray! woopie. But don't expect much. It was the users who supported IBM and it was IBM who told the users to shove off. Hopefully that won't happen again.
AIX just sucks so i don't know why they're saying anything about linux competing with AIX. AIX has more patches then you can shake a stick at, java is flaky at best and supported libraries are rare at most.
You can goto http://msdn.microsoft.com and download everything you wanted to know about IE 5, 6, ActiveX or any developments on the Windows/Win32 platform.
Just because Opera, A variety of unix platforms support netscape plugins doesn't mean it is a standard. I can't go running The Windows Netscape Plugin of Quicktime under linux nor can i run the Linux version of Macromedia Flash under the OS/2 version of Opera or netscape or mozilla.
Everyoby has opinions, like everyone has assholes. Doesn't make you or me wrong or right.
Snagged from google's excellent cache
"Netscape: We're in media, not browser business now
By Reshma Kapadia
NEW YORK, June 6 (Reuters) - AOL Time Warner Inc (NYSE:AOL - news) is remaking its pioneering Netscape software business into an Internet media hub brimming with Time Warner artists and publications, aimed at office workers and Web purists not already using AOL services.
``The browser is a crown jewel. However, six months from now, you won't consider Netscape to be a browser company,'' Netscape President Jim Bankoff told Reuters in an interview, referring to its early role in creating the first popular tool for surfing the Web.
The shift recognises the overwhelming dominance of the Internet Explorer (IE) browser produced by arch-rival Microsoft Corp (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news), and frees AOL to focus on new media markets now taking shape on computers, phones and television.
The revved-up Netscape media strategy signals that AOL Time Warner is stepping up the integration of its varied business units following the completion of AOL's $106.2 billion purchase of Time Warner Inc in January.
Netscape, which plans to embark on a brand advertising campaign later this year, wants to act as a hub for the wide array of core Time Warner media properties -- such as Fortune and Time magazines and the 24-hour cable news network CNN.
So far about 18 Time Warner publication and programming sites, including CNNfn financial news and CNN.com, have been embedded in the toolbar that runs along the top of the Netscape media site.
NETSCAPE SOFTWARE TO ACT AS COMPONENTS FOR MEDIA SERVICES
Netscape is by no means a rejection of its software legacy, as components of its browser technology will continue to power new features of Netscape's media services aimed at office workers, small businesses and sophisticated Web users.
``We have all been waiting to see if they stake the crown on the technology, on the name, or on the parent and it become more of an extension of a grander thing,'' said Lydia Loizides, analyst at Internet research firm Jupiter Media Metrix.
``It's not going to be Netscape, but rather Netscape.com,'' Loizides said.
AOL Time Warner's retreat from creating distinct Netscape browsing software figures in the on-again, off-again talks the company is holding with Microsoft to renegotiate its licence to embed the Internet Explorer in its AOL service.
The talks, which broke down last week but are said to have since resumed, would extend a five-year AOL-Microsoft browser deal that expired in January of this year, among other topics.
But in an industry that does not know how to stand still, the rivalry has shifted to instant-messaging services that incorporate browser-like Web surfing features with the capacity to swap messages rapidly among friends and colleagues.
Microsoft is incorporating an instant-message service it calls Windows Messenger into the next version of its operating system software known as Windows XP that offers audio and video conferencing, file transfers and text messaging. This change means customers of alternative instant messaging and Web browsers would have to go to extra effort to use such systems.
The expired Microsoft pact had allowed AOL's software to feature on the desktops of many Windows PCs, helping fuel the growth of AOL services. AOL still relies on Internet Explorer as the built-in browser for its now 29 million subscribers.
Bankoff said Netscape's strategy will not be altered regardless of which way the talks with Microsoft are resolved.
He confirmed that AOL has been testing ``Komodo'' software, which would let AOL and CompuServe Internet services support multiple Web browsers, including Netscape, as well as perform various other functions.
Netscape is also trying to increase the reach of its technology platform and has struck recent deals for its browser to be used in Sony Corp's PlayStation 2 and direct computer seller Gateway Inc's (NYSE:GTW - news) Touchpad.
``We are finding demand for more than the Internet browser in the marketplace,'' Bankoff said, contrasting Netscape's partnering moves to what he considers Microsoft's winner-take-all model. ``You will see more pacts like the one struck with PlayStation.''
NETSCAPE, THE ALTERNATIVE MEDIA BRAND IN THE AOL STABLE
The historic transformation of Netscape into media property has been underway since AOL bought Netscape in 1999 and Time Warner in 2000 to form the world's largest media company, with interests ranging from music to film and across the Internet.
Netscape.com's base of registered users has grown 37 percent to more than 40 million worldwide from 15 million in February 2000, the company said.
The Netscape target user typically surfs the Web at work, often on high-speed connections, and resists the packaged online experience AOL creates to draw mainstream audiences who find wide-open Web surfing confusing or overly complex.
``We call them the 'a la carte' crowd. (Netscape users) have a perceived interest in finding their own things,'' Bankoff said.
Bruce Kasrel, a Forrester Research analyst who had yet to be briefed on the new Netscape plans, said ahead of the announcement last week that Netscape needed to pursue a hybrid media and software akin to that of Microsoft's MSN Explorer.
MSN allows users to custom design the mix of Web searching, news updates, communication features and other services using Internet Explorer technology. Similarly, he predicted AOL Time Warner would fold Netscape software into its media properties.
The media hub strategy gives Netscape a chance to sell advertising across its many properties -- something AOL Time Warner is well known for doing -- and to test the waters for subscriptions rather than just free services, Loizides said.
``Because they are repositioning themselves, they are a bit freer to experiment than Yahoo! or other services,'' she added. ``Things they could test include subscriptions services'' for unique Time Warner programming or special Web software.
The formula of using Netscape to create a central Internet meeting place for Time Warner magazine readers and broadcast viewers echoes in certain respects the push by Time Warner in the first half of the 1990s to draw users to a single site. That site, known as Pathfinder, failed to keep Time Warner readers within the site and eventually closed.
Netscape can tap an unprecedented wealth of exclusive media content ranging from music pop star Madonna to the hit crime-family drama ``The Sopranos'' now running on U.S. cable television, Loizides said.
Email this story - Most-emailed articles - Most-viewed articles
"
Microsoft is removing there proprietary JVM (based on java 1.1.3) which is entirely outdated and having people downloads suns proprietary JVM from java.sun.com instead.
Java is Proprietary until sun gets off there ass and standardizes it.
It is only helping, as anyone knows java 1.1.3 sucks and 1.2 and 1.3.1 are mucho better.
Netscape has already been dropped. Ofcourse they still produce new versions and may announce further changes, but they did make a public statement "Netscape is out of the browser business".
In reality it is a no brainer. If Internet explorer is changing and being integrated as a platform for running applications then why would you want to support TWO totally different and conflicting paltforms for those applications?
Incase you forgot Netscape 6 and Mozilla are application frameworks as well with all the new additions. So if you wanted to based your application framework on Netscape and its proprietary featues then have your clients rollout netscape.
Microsoft is just rolling out its application framework on its specific platform.
You can do the same on linux with Netscape or any os with netscape. Just so happens the common computer man uses windows.
Hey, i run linux, i run windows, i run IE and i run netscape. This decision has no barings on my work or productivity. If i want quicktime then i'll use netscape.
Just like if i want microsoft excel documents i use excel or if i want lotus notes databases i use lotus notes and if i want oracle databases i use sql plus.
Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft isn't what is being replaced, most likely Linux is replacing the tons of Solaris boxen they have/had running
The XBox will do well. No denying it. I will buy one. 299 for what it comes with is a damn good deal. (i dunno what crackpipe your smoking.. the ps2 costs 299 and doesn't come with nearly the same amount of hardware and who wants to play a bunch of rehashed psx games)
Its simple. The XBox will outperform the now 2 year old PS2 design. The XBOX will have more memory, more storage, networking out of the box and a better API to program.
Everyone knows the PS2 is a bitch to program for. Sure directx isn't the end all, but any joe schmoe can learn it.
I want to see how the GameCube and the Xbox do. I could care less about the PS2.. PS2 is last years garbage
there is no system, it is a public network. 36k isn't bad for sitting at a park reading slashdot.
can't cary your dsl to park. if you want global 802.11 11mbit then your going to have to pay for it.. otherwise shuddup and thank them for setting up free access.
You don't FORCE anyone to do anything. Atleast if you live in the USA you don't force users to try something different, it was afterall the users that made Microsoft a Defacto. (just like you may choose to make linux your defacto).
Doesn't mean microsoft is a monopoly when it is the easiest to use, most intuitive and simple operating system that my grandma can run.
monopoly, i said it.
you still have a choice. Its not like the monopolistic phone company (verizon) or cable companies (comcast) that exist.
i can't route the cable coming into my house through another company, yet i can and have always been able to choose my os.
sue compusa for not selling linux, os/2. Sue the end users for choosing what they choose, sue your business for limiting how you work. Microsoft had nothing to do with the choices we made. You could have chosen to buy a mac, you could have bought a computer with OS/2 pre-installed back in the day. You could have bought an amiga..
just like you could have bought a dreamcast or a ps2.. nobody bitched and complaine or sued sony for being monopolistic. After all it was sony who sind noncompete with its core developers to make sure they didn't do anything but playstation games. microsoft isn't the only one playing this "game" or being a "monopoly".
Ofcourse i get flaimbaited for having an opinion. Slashdot can suck my left nut.. this isn't a forum for geeks, its a forum for crackheads and 14 year olds who are pissed off school starts next week.
geezus how lame can this place get these days? slashdot turned 10 several times now, we have seen how to roll your own dsl what 4-5 times now? A linux program going commercial? what, wasn't it just 2 weeks ago when i read this about tuxracer and everything was misconstrued?
oh well. i won't loose anything by not waisting my time in here anymore..
screw having karma, it doesn't mean anything obviosly in this "forum"
Price is affordable, for the upgrade 100-200.00 seems like alot, but your getting legal mp3 encoding software, legal cd recording software, an os upgrade, compatibility with prior software and a fairly common platform that you can go to any store and buy software and hardware for.
While linux is improving nicely, it still lacks heavily in any music reporduction, media interfaces business applications. I'd rather pay 199.00 bucks for something that works out of the box and comes with lots of software then several hours downloading, burning iso's and then chasing down the latest versions of all apps waisting a whole entire weekend or business days (thus costing more then the 199.00 XP package).
I'm not dissing linux, and not praising XP. Its just time for everyone to get off there totem poll and just use what is out there. You have your choices, microsoft has stopped blocking OEM's from shipping other programs and that is what the antitrust case should have been about. It shouldn't be about a browser that is included, you can install any browser you wish.
So now people will sue microsoft because it/they still include apps within the os.
Nobody sues IBM for OS/2 that was bundled with a browser (warp 3 & 4), Nobody sued Sun for including the ancient java browser and prefering that you use there browser.
Nobody sued Redhat for defaulting to the gnome desktop and making it hard for people to get KDE (which as of 7.2 will be a thing of the past.. redhat is more desktop agnostic now). But still, if i have to download the rpm's for netscape or mozilla on any other platform why the hell is it so hard for a windows user to download and run an installer for that application on the Windows platform?
Windows is microsoft's product afterall. They can decide what and how they want to to work and do. Just like you can decide what and how you want to use it!
Nobody is holding a gun to your head. Personally XP will be my desktop and laptop OS, linux will be my Server/web/email os and linux will also be a developer os (since i can code for my dreamcast and other devices fairly easily).
quit being stupid then
If joe gamer has 299.00 burning his pocket and one system comes out before another and both are feature rich joe gamer will probably by one or the other and not both. So yes, it does affect the market. If xbox sells 4 million units the first month while the gamecube does 2 million then developers will hit the xbox because they have better percentages.
Platform dependance is a thing of the past, most developers are agnostic now, WITH THE exception of gamecube developers.. so it could be just another repeat of n64.. with the exception of ibm vs sgi now.
How is the price on the XBox rediculous? The PS2 costs 299 and comes with less. The PS2 was also bundled for 899 when you pre-ordered (some were 499) and such, and hell the PS2 on ebay was 2grand!
:)
For the same price the xbox has harddrive, ethernet, modem and more games. The PS2 delivered one of the games a year after release (grand torismo) and hasn't even produced metal gear whatever.
Meanwhile my 79.00 dreamcasts kicks everyones ass
Okay, so sue me. 62.00 for 512 megs of memory (2x256).
My eyes are just getting tired
PriceWatch.com(tm) has the most up to date pricelist for all computer peripherals including these great AMD MP systems. Currently you can get a tyan mobo, single 1ghz MP cpu, and cooler fan for about 409.00. You can buy the lower end SMP mobo for ~250 and the higher end (with scsi) for ~300.00. CPU prices, motherboard prices and all other hardware prices are adjusted on a daily basis.
Buy up so the demand will lower the price. The tyan motherboard is a great board. You can get ddr memory (512 meg chips) for less than 30 bucks now!
http://www.pricewatch.com - just click on cpu/motherboard combos and select from the two mp combinations or simply select cpu, motherboard, memory and fans to build your own.
Then why doesn't the allmightly low and behold catholic church go to brazil and preach its ethics? Isn't religion supposed to be a foundation of life? If the catholic religion was the real basis for what you base your beliefs on then why doesn't everyone believe it?
For the simple fact that you or your region aren't absolute. IF you want to make a difference it is something YOUR doing and not your religion. Go brazil, stop the epidemic! Teach your population and don't be a part of the tyranny of corporatism and absolute beliefs in religion.
Old timer or not, if your "religion" can make a difference then why not DO SOMETHING about it. Atleast the mormons do something for brazilian families. I have yet to see catholics do anything besides complain.
Hey, religion is kid, being a part of something is good. Teaching people is good, but crediting the problems of brazil to not having faith in the catholic church is just insane.
If you lived in a population where aids is of epidemic proportions but it costs so much to get vaccinated what would you do? Die so another company can profit?
Sure the government should have licensed the medication, but on the other hand, the profiteering and money grubbing developers should have provided for brazil long before they needed to make this stance.
Its ironic how we think IP in technology is different then IP in medicine. Why is it right for people to patent vacinations that could save your life, but it isn't right for someone to patent an interface that has no position of life or death?
Been that way for years!
Same with DVD's. You don't own the movie. You can sell your rights and pass the disk along to others but you can't keep copies since you no longer have the rights to watch that movie.
Sure mp3.com being sued sucks, but like it has been said already, Vivendi owns Mp3.com and told all the indie acts to screw off and it has been down hill since then.
Infact i'd like to see all ipo companies burn up, if they're in it for the money then i could care less. Yeah, you have to pay the bills, but last i heard private companies weren't firing 1,200 people to inflate there stock value! you might get fired if the going gets rough.. totally off subject now, but yeah. you don't own shit. You don't own windows, you own the right to run windows, you do own your car, the only license you have is dependant on your state and you must maintain that license and any qualifications of it. You don't own your license, you are granted a right to use under the freedoms of your blessed state and countries.
Just like you don't own the town you pay taxes in just because you pay for it.
everything is a part of something!
Raise your carma today, upgrade to the untested and unproved slashcode 2.2 and be buggier then any other program out there.
:)
i hope there are no security risks with 2.2... but oh well. you gotta upgrade someday.
so when will slashdot be themeable so i can choose different ugly colors?
I hope they can release a compiler!
It was 3 years ago when the ball dropped on the infamouse (and powerfull) OS/2 solution. (well, someoen over at http://www.ecomstation.com is picking up now).
IBM Changes software and solutions like there is no tommorow. If it isn't Calle E-Gizmo then IBM will change it to that.
IBM Supporting linux is great, hooray! woopie. But don't expect much. It was the users who supported IBM and it was IBM who told the users to shove off. Hopefully that won't happen again.
AIX just sucks so i don't know why they're saying anything about linux competing with AIX. AIX has more patches then you can shake a stick at, java is flaky at best and supported libraries are rare at most.
Oh well.
Yeah, i'm glad i live a boring life, 100% color blind, unich and vegan at that. I'm so happy
Why is there free software or a free mozilla or a free netscape? They aren't monopolies are they?
Just because Opera, A variety of unix platforms support netscape plugins doesn't mean it is a standard. I can't go running The Windows Netscape Plugin of Quicktime under linux nor can i run the Linux version of Macromedia Flash under the OS/2 version of Opera or netscape or mozilla.
Everyoby has opinions, like everyone has assholes. Doesn't make you or me wrong or right.
Snagged from google's excellent cache "Netscape: We're in media, not browser business now By Reshma Kapadia NEW YORK, June 6 (Reuters) - AOL Time Warner Inc (NYSE:AOL - news) is remaking its pioneering Netscape software business into an Internet media hub brimming with Time Warner artists and publications, aimed at office workers and Web purists not already using AOL services. ``The browser is a crown jewel. However, six months from now, you won't consider Netscape to be a browser company,'' Netscape President Jim Bankoff told Reuters in an interview, referring to its early role in creating the first popular tool for surfing the Web. The shift recognises the overwhelming dominance of the Internet Explorer (IE) browser produced by arch-rival Microsoft Corp (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news), and frees AOL to focus on new media markets now taking shape on computers, phones and television. The revved-up Netscape media strategy signals that AOL Time Warner is stepping up the integration of its varied business units following the completion of AOL's $106.2 billion purchase of Time Warner Inc in January. Netscape, which plans to embark on a brand advertising campaign later this year, wants to act as a hub for the wide array of core Time Warner media properties -- such as Fortune and Time magazines and the 24-hour cable news network CNN. So far about 18 Time Warner publication and programming sites, including CNNfn financial news and CNN.com, have been embedded in the toolbar that runs along the top of the Netscape media site. NETSCAPE SOFTWARE TO ACT AS COMPONENTS FOR MEDIA SERVICES Netscape is by no means a rejection of its software legacy, as components of its browser technology will continue to power new features of Netscape's media services aimed at office workers, small businesses and sophisticated Web users. ``We have all been waiting to see if they stake the crown on the technology, on the name, or on the parent and it become more of an extension of a grander thing,'' said Lydia Loizides, analyst at Internet research firm Jupiter Media Metrix. ``It's not going to be Netscape, but rather Netscape.com,'' Loizides said. AOL Time Warner's retreat from creating distinct Netscape browsing software figures in the on-again, off-again talks the company is holding with Microsoft to renegotiate its licence to embed the Internet Explorer in its AOL service. The talks, which broke down last week but are said to have since resumed, would extend a five-year AOL-Microsoft browser deal that expired in January of this year, among other topics. But in an industry that does not know how to stand still, the rivalry has shifted to instant-messaging services that incorporate browser-like Web surfing features with the capacity to swap messages rapidly among friends and colleagues. Microsoft is incorporating an instant-message service it calls Windows Messenger into the next version of its operating system software known as Windows XP that offers audio and video conferencing, file transfers and text messaging. This change means customers of alternative instant messaging and Web browsers would have to go to extra effort to use such systems. The expired Microsoft pact had allowed AOL's software to feature on the desktops of many Windows PCs, helping fuel the growth of AOL services. AOL still relies on Internet Explorer as the built-in browser for its now 29 million subscribers. Bankoff said Netscape's strategy will not be altered regardless of which way the talks with Microsoft are resolved. He confirmed that AOL has been testing ``Komodo'' software, which would let AOL and CompuServe Internet services support multiple Web browsers, including Netscape, as well as perform various other functions. Netscape is also trying to increase the reach of its technology platform and has struck recent deals for its browser to be used in Sony Corp's PlayStation 2 and direct computer seller Gateway Inc's (NYSE:GTW - news) Touchpad. ``We are finding demand for more than the Internet browser in the marketplace,'' Bankoff said, contrasting Netscape's partnering moves to what he considers Microsoft's winner-take-all model. ``You will see more pacts like the one struck with PlayStation.'' NETSCAPE, THE ALTERNATIVE MEDIA BRAND IN THE AOL STABLE The historic transformation of Netscape into media property has been underway since AOL bought Netscape in 1999 and Time Warner in 2000 to form the world's largest media company, with interests ranging from music to film and across the Internet. Netscape.com's base of registered users has grown 37 percent to more than 40 million worldwide from 15 million in February 2000, the company said. The Netscape target user typically surfs the Web at work, often on high-speed connections, and resists the packaged online experience AOL creates to draw mainstream audiences who find wide-open Web surfing confusing or overly complex. ``We call them the 'a la carte' crowd. (Netscape users) have a perceived interest in finding their own things,'' Bankoff said. Bruce Kasrel, a Forrester Research analyst who had yet to be briefed on the new Netscape plans, said ahead of the announcement last week that Netscape needed to pursue a hybrid media and software akin to that of Microsoft's MSN Explorer. MSN allows users to custom design the mix of Web searching, news updates, communication features and other services using Internet Explorer technology. Similarly, he predicted AOL Time Warner would fold Netscape software into its media properties. The media hub strategy gives Netscape a chance to sell advertising across its many properties -- something AOL Time Warner is well known for doing -- and to test the waters for subscriptions rather than just free services, Loizides said. ``Because they are repositioning themselves, they are a bit freer to experiment than Yahoo! or other services,'' she added. ``Things they could test include subscriptions services'' for unique Time Warner programming or special Web software. The formula of using Netscape to create a central Internet meeting place for Time Warner magazine readers and broadcast viewers echoes in certain respects the push by Time Warner in the first half of the 1990s to draw users to a single site. That site, known as Pathfinder, failed to keep Time Warner readers within the site and eventually closed. Netscape can tap an unprecedented wealth of exclusive media content ranging from music pop star Madonna to the hit crime-family drama ``The Sopranos'' now running on U.S. cable television, Loizides said. Email this story - Most-emailed articles - Most-viewed articles "
Java is Proprietary until sun gets off there ass and standardizes it.
It is only helping, as anyone knows java 1.1.3 sucks and 1.2 and 1.3.1 are mucho better.
In reality it is a no brainer. If Internet explorer is changing and being integrated as a platform for running applications then why would you want to support TWO totally different and conflicting paltforms for those applications?
Incase you forgot Netscape 6 and Mozilla are application frameworks as well with all the new additions. So if you wanted to based your application framework on Netscape and its proprietary featues then have your clients rollout netscape.
Microsoft is just rolling out its application framework on its specific platform.
You can do the same on linux with Netscape or any os with netscape. Just so happens the common computer man uses windows.
Hey, i run linux, i run windows, i run IE and i run netscape. This decision has no barings on my work or productivity. If i want quicktime then i'll use netscape.
Just like if i want microsoft excel documents i use excel or if i want lotus notes databases i use lotus notes and if i want oracle databases i use sql plus.
There is nothing illegal