Netscape the Big Win

[Timothy C. May]

At 4:31 PM 7/20/95, Ray Cromwell wrote:

>  I wouldn't be surprised if in 5-10 years, your operating system basically
>looks like a cross between Netscape, OpenDoc, and HotJava. The "browser"
>would be ubiquituous, and local/LAN/WAN data would be treated transparently.
>

This is precisely my view, although I try to call it an "operating
environment," so as to get away from quibbling about what is and what is
not a real OS.

There were reasons why some folks like to do as much work as they could in
an integrated environment like Emacs, regardless of the underlying OS
flavor. Many folk still do, and they read News, send mail, etc., all from
within Emacs.

Same idea with Netscape...albeit with a different focus. And my guess,
based on lots of indications, is that about a thousand times as many people
will soon be doing this with Netscape as with Emacs, or elm, or pine, etc.

Ray's comments about OpenDoc, HotJava, and other object-oriented tools fit
this picture, I think.

I am sorry that some folks heavily committed to the Linux route, or to
Emacs, or to GNU/FSF, or to other approaches feel that their work is
technically superior and deserves to be as popular as Netscape and simiar
approaches, but reality is reality.

(And I could be wrong on the way things will unfold. All I'm saying is that
technology is a moving target, that plans have to change, and that ease of
use will likely win out over technical sophistication. Folks who think the
stronger technology will inevitably win should pick up a copy of a
15-year-old book called "The Soul of a New Machine," by Tracy Kidder.)

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