[Fwd: AOL/Netscape browser division discontinued]

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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: AOL/Netscape browser division discontinued
Date: 18 Jul 2003 23:35:33 GMT
From: rbs@maths.uq.edu.au (Roger B. Sidje)
Organization: Another Netscape Collabra Server User
To: mozilla-mathml@mozilla.org
Newsgroups: netscape.public.mozilla.mathml

Many of you following this newsgroup probably know that the MathML
project came to being in order to bring native MathML support to a
mainstream browser, and to thereby strengthen the adoption of
MathML,
and contribute in causing other parties to take it more seriously.
The release of Nestcape7.1 marked indeed the culmination of that
goal.
For the first time, native MathML support was/is available on all
platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac) on a browser geared for the general
public. If the project was only interested in that goal, it would
stop
there, but "rendering" is just a part of the equation, and there are
other things that I am sure people would like to see happen.

But FYI to those not yet aware of the news reports, AOL has
dismantled
its entire Netscape browser department. That is, nobody on AOL
payroll
is being paid to work on the open-source Mozilla/Netscape browser
anymore. All that AOL is keeping from Netscape is the netscape.com
network portal, and some former engineers that have been
re-assigned to
other closed-source plans such as, for example, its "AOL
Communicator"
(a standalone Mail agent),
http://www.google.com/search?q="AOL Communicator"
(and perhaps a handful of in-house people to provide some minor
support
to Nestcape7.1 for security fixes and such).

There is a two months transition period for mozilla.org to
recover from
the shake up. After that Mozilla will be flying independently
with its
own wings through a newly formed "Mozilla Foundation" that is being
setup to provide a legal basis for the future. Some
technicalities about
this (e.g., a "modest" $2M seed funding for 2 years) can be found at:
http://www.mozillafoundation.org/
(I am using "modest" because other companies, e.g., DSI, have
reported
that _just_ the MathML support in their MathPlayer has cost them
several
hundreds of thousands. Multiply that by the numerous W3C specs...).

While there are now lots of XUL/UI people with the know-how, many
of the
core hackers that were working full-time and keeping extra
eyeballs on
things (necko, gecko and its run-time environment, editor, JSengine,
etc), i18n, QA (with a variety of hardware/resources) were
netscape'rs,
and so the cut is likely to slow down the pace of Mozilla,
especially
given the fact that those in this mass lay-off have to find a job to
sustain themselves and their families, and so might not find
themselves
in a position to contribute as much, if at all.

Practically for you end-users, what comes down is that Mozilla is to
reposition itself for the end-user directly. From the ashes of
Netscape,
now comes Mozilla for the mainstream. Hence all the effort to get
MathML
in Gecko hasn't been lost, and those former Netscape'rs who have
lost
their job can at least be pleased to know that we appreciate their
contribution in producing the masterpiece Mozilla browser that has
matured so much now to the point that it can indeed be served to the
end-user directly, as well as embedded in other applications.

All the best to you folks as you hunt for new jobs.
---
RBS




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