At 7:26 PM 11/30/95, Ravi Pandya wrote:
If you're looking for an alternative Web browser for Windows, we just made ours available for free at www.netmanage.com. It's fast and reliable, and supports HTML 3.0, inline video, software distribution, VRML (NT version), Real Audio, TrueSpeech, etc.
This shows the price Netscape could pay for taking a pro-surveillance, anti-privacy stance. Various alternatives to Netscape exist (even on the Mac), despite attempts to make "Netscape-enhanced-encoding" (or whatever it's called) the standard. I expect alternative browsers will catch up fairly quickly. (As an aside, and based on my past experiences at Intel during its rapid-growth phase, it may be tough for Netscape to keep people motivated and focused on development, what with all the "distractions" of a stock price of $140 when it was expected to go public at $14. CNBC reported yesterday that several _secretaries_ at Netscape have cashed in $600K stock options....I can imagine a lot of folks are eager to leave to enjoy their new wealth, but will stick around for the future stock options. This becomes a real drag on productivity, based on my experiences and those of my friends at various other start up companies.) I also expect that this pro-surveillance, anti-privacy "stumble" by Jim Clark will either be quickly "clarified" (but perhaps nothing really changed), or Netscape will suffer a black eye in public relations, with many "Cypherpunk"-type people adopting a "Just Say No to Netscape!" stance. --Tim May Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^756839 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."