There's been alot of talk about "inevitable clash of cultures," regarding the AOL-Netscape story, but it didn't have to be that way--it wasn't inevitable. Steve Case and his cronies bear responsibility for driving off some of the best and brightest software developers in the country.
The reason I say this was avoidable is the way that AOL has managed acquiring Mirabilis and Nullsoft--essentially it has taken a "hands off" approach to both ICQ and Winamp/SHOUTcast. Someone there finally did the right thing and recognized that the users of those products were skeptical of AOL's influence and were worried that AOL ownership would alienate the user bases of each product.
Maybe the same micromanagement goes own behind the scenes at Mirabilis and Nullsoft but we don't hear about it, but I doubt that's the case. Each of these product lines retains a huge user following that's growing and both are pretty much devoid of AOL branding.
I wonder how different things would have turned out had AOL seen the catfight with M$ over instant messaging on the horizon. With everyone else out of the way, Billgatus of Borg's newest target for destruction is AOL in the IM arena, and ICQ and AIM are winning the day for AOL so far. If AOL had had the foresight to see a hurculean battle against Microsoft, maybe they would have given the resources and stability to leave Netscape alone and let it do what it did best--make browsers.
The big question that remains unsanswered is how does AOL's management feel about these departing people? I've always believed that you can replace machines or technology but you can't replace people. Talent, especially in today's hot economy, is a valuable asset that you can't squander or drive off. Okay so it's America and the victor gets the spoils and all that good BS...but I bet there's some relocated Netscape employees that are really making a difference with some other companies out there and are very satisfied with their new endeavors. Ex-Mozilla.org is a good place to find out where they are now.
There's been alot of talk about "inevitable clash of cultures," regarding the AOL-Netscape story, but it didn't have to be that way--it wasn't inevitable. Steve Case and his cronies bear responsibility for driving off some of the best and brightest software developers in the country.
The reason I say this was avoidable is the way that AOL has managed acquiring Mirabilis and Nullsoft--essentially it has taken a "hands off" approach to both ICQ and Winamp/SHOUTcast. Someone there finally did the right thing and recognized that the users of those products were skeptical of AOL's influence and were worried that AOL ownership would alienate the user bases of each product.
Maybe the same micromanagement goes own behind the scenes at Mirabilis and Nullsoft but we don't hear about it, but I doubt that's the case. Each of these product lines retains a huge user following that's growing and both are pretty much devoid of AOL branding.
I wonder how different things would have turned out had AOL seen the catfight with M$ over instant messaging on the horizon. With everyone else out of the way, Billgatus of Borg's newest target for destruction is AOL in the IM arena, and ICQ and AIM are winning the day for AOL so far. If AOL had had the foresight to see a hurculean battle against Microsoft, maybe they would have given the resources and stability to leave Netscape alone and let it do what it did best--make browsers.
The big question that remains unsanswered is how does AOL's management feel about these departing people? I've always believed that you can replace machines or technology but you can't replace people. Talent, especially in today's hot economy, is a valuable asset that you can't squander or drive off. Okay so it's America and the victor gets the spoils and all that good BS...but I bet there's some relocated Netscape employees that are really making a difference with some other companies out there and are very satisfied with their new endeavors. Ex-Mozilla,org is a good place to find out where they are now.
Common./'er reaction to this story: "What about the students' right to privacy?! They were violated...."
I guess people always like to play the "P" card because they have a vague understanding of their Constitutional rights against illegal search and seizure.....by the governent on their private property.
Now, when one private entity--a corporation or university--owns a resource such as a network, you can kiss privacy goodbye. Court cases, like it or not, have clearly established that employers have the right to go through your corporate email at any time for any reason or no reason if they so choose--it's their network resources and they can do with them as they see fit. Now if the Feds show up in the company lobby and wanna go through the mail server logs that's a different story altogether.....that's where I say the Constitution kicks in.
The same rationale could be applied to these kids at CMU--a private institution. The university owns and operates the network, and grants the university community priveleges to use it, not rights. The university is responsible to ensure that its network resources are used in an ethical and legal manner, so it is perfectly within its rights to go through any area of the network and look at anything it wants to with no notice, except for private student PCs. Password protected or not, the files resided on a private network.
Reality is that the letter of the law and political correctness usually differ greatly. Public policy follows opinions in a democracy, and when opinions collide we end up in court. Does CMU have a PR battle ahead over this to win the hearts and minds of "violated" students and armchair rights activists chiming in on./ and email from all over the world? Will they have a tough time attracting new freshmen because of their get-tough stance on MP3's? Maybe....but if they have the moral conviction to stand by their policies then it really doesn't matter.
I'm no fan of RIAA and their lawyers and scare tactics either....but they are doing what I'd expect them to do by aggressively protecting the cash flow of their artists.
Then shoot ME....No, Virginia, the rest of the world does not speek geek!
Using RaQs has given our web hosting customers an easy-to-use HTML administration interface and kept the help desk phones quiet....in my book that's a winning product.
I agree....ZDTV is a good first for a 24/7 computing channel. Maybe CNET, Wired, and Mecklermedia will follow suit and raise the geek factor a couple notches for the rest of us.
Slashdot Mirror
Okay, riddle me this Batman....
How do you propose such a decentralized media as usenet could even be regulated?
sorry for the comma in Ex-Mozilla.org
There's been alot of talk about "inevitable clash of cultures," regarding the AOL-Netscape story, but it didn't have to be that way--it wasn't inevitable. Steve Case and his cronies bear responsibility for driving off some of the best and brightest software developers in the country.
The reason I say this was avoidable is the way that AOL has managed acquiring Mirabilis and Nullsoft--essentially it has taken a "hands off" approach to both ICQ and Winamp/SHOUTcast. Someone there finally did the right thing and recognized that the users of those products were skeptical of AOL's influence and were worried that AOL ownership would alienate the user bases of each product.
Maybe the same micromanagement goes own behind the scenes at Mirabilis and Nullsoft but we don't hear about it, but I doubt that's the case. Each of these product lines retains a huge user following that's growing and both are pretty much devoid of AOL branding.
I wonder how different things would have turned out had AOL seen the catfight with M$ over instant messaging on the horizon. With everyone else out of the way, Billgatus of Borg's newest target for destruction is AOL in the IM arena, and ICQ and AIM are winning the day for AOL so far. If AOL had had the foresight to see a hurculean battle against Microsoft, maybe they would have given the resources and stability to leave Netscape alone and let it do what it did best--make browsers.
The big question that remains unsanswered is how does AOL's management feel about these departing people? I've always believed that you can replace machines or technology but you can't replace people. Talent, especially in today's hot economy, is a valuable asset that you can't squander or drive off. Okay so it's America and the victor gets the spoils and all that good BS...but I bet there's some relocated Netscape employees that are really making a difference with some other companies out there and are very satisfied with their new endeavors. Ex-Mozilla.org is a good place to find out where they are now.
There's been alot of talk about "inevitable clash of cultures," regarding the AOL-Netscape story, but it didn't have to be that way--it wasn't inevitable. Steve Case and his cronies bear responsibility for driving off some of the best and brightest software developers in the country.
The reason I say this was avoidable is the way that AOL has managed acquiring Mirabilis and Nullsoft--essentially it has taken a "hands off" approach to both ICQ and Winamp/SHOUTcast. Someone there finally did the right thing and recognized that the users of those products were skeptical of AOL's influence and were worried that AOL ownership would alienate the user bases of each product.
Maybe the same micromanagement goes own behind the scenes at Mirabilis and Nullsoft but we don't hear about it, but I doubt that's the case. Each of these product lines retains a huge user following that's growing and both are pretty much devoid of AOL branding.
I wonder how different things would have turned out had AOL seen the catfight with M$ over instant messaging on the horizon. With everyone else out of the way, Billgatus of Borg's newest target for destruction is AOL in the IM arena, and ICQ and AIM are winning the day for AOL so far. If AOL had had the foresight to see a hurculean battle against Microsoft, maybe they would have given the resources and stability to leave Netscape alone and let it do what it did best--make browsers.
The big question that remains unsanswered is how does AOL's management feel about these departing people? I've always believed that you can replace machines or technology but you can't replace people. Talent, especially in today's hot economy, is a valuable asset that you can't squander or drive off. Okay so it's America and the victor gets the spoils and all that good BS...but I bet there's some relocated Netscape employees that are really making a difference with some other companies out there and are very satisfied with their new endeavors. Ex-Mozilla,org is a good place to find out where they are now.
Common ./'er reaction to this story: "What about the students' right to privacy?! They were violated...."
./ and email from all over the world? Will they have a tough time attracting new freshmen because of their get-tough stance on MP3's? Maybe....but if they have the moral conviction to stand by their policies then it really doesn't matter.
I guess people always like to play the "P" card because they have a vague understanding of their Constitutional rights against illegal search and seizure.....by the governent on their private property.
Now, when one private entity--a corporation or university--owns a resource such as a network, you can kiss privacy goodbye. Court cases, like it or not, have clearly established that employers have the right to go through your corporate email at any time for any reason or no reason if they so choose--it's their network resources and they can do with them as they see fit. Now if the Feds show up in the company lobby and wanna go through the mail server logs that's a different story altogether.....that's where I say the Constitution kicks in.
The same rationale could be applied to these kids at CMU--a private institution. The university owns and operates the network, and grants the university community priveleges to use it, not rights. The university is responsible to ensure that its network resources are used in an ethical and legal manner, so it is perfectly within its rights to go through any area of the network and look at anything it wants to with no notice, except for private student PCs. Password protected or not, the files resided on a private network.
Reality is that the letter of the law and political correctness usually differ greatly. Public policy follows opinions in a democracy, and when opinions collide we end up in court. Does CMU have a PR battle ahead over this to win the hearts and minds of "violated" students and armchair rights activists chiming in on
I'm no fan of RIAA and their lawyers and scare tactics either....but they are doing what I'd expect them to do by aggressively protecting the cash flow of their artists.
Then shoot ME....No, Virginia, the rest of the world does not speek geek!
Using RaQs has given our web hosting customers an easy-to-use HTML administration interface and kept the help desk phones quiet....in my book that's a winning product.
I agree....ZDTV is a good first for a 24/7 computing channel. Maybe CNET, Wired, and Mecklermedia will follow suit and raise the geek factor a couple notches for the rest of us.