Re: Do Netscape suck? Maybe.

Joshua Aasgaard (aasgaard@WELL.COM)
Wed, 30 Aug 1995 10:57:14 -0700

Netscape is the greatest thing since sliced bread! And it it s open to
anyone, and ANYONE can use the Netscape browser for noncommercial purposes.
For noncommerical purposes it is BY FAR THE BEST, the easiest, the most fun
to use. Sure HotJava might turn out to be better, but it's still in the
Alpha stage. Not even beta testing it yet. On Netscape you can EASILY and
painlessly do audio of all kinds, video, animation, and create sharp, clear
pages easily. Netscape is a leader and RULE BY COMMITTEE which the damned
"open" standards for HTML 3.0 has turned out to be, simply doesn't care
about the vast majority who want to use these tools TODAY!

Acrobat, the Adobe product, is also free. It lets you use PageMaker or other
page layout programs to create really high quality stuff EASILY,
unfortunately, those programs to do the creation ARE NOT CHEAP, even the the
viewer/browser is free.

For today, Netscape is the hands down winner. Mosiac is a distance second,
with all the noname brands following behind.

A year ago, as any bookstore shelf will attest, Mosiac was the best. A year
from now, it will be HotJava, some unnamed Adobe product, or still Netscape.
You never know. Now that Netscape is a REAL CORPORATION with investors like
you and me, and not a startup struggling for capital, I think it will be
hard to compete.

Oh, there is Microsoft Network...it's seemless, but I want control over
where I go and I want to know the URL I'm at from my browser. Hopefully,
Netscape will survive by doing what it has done best---please its customers,
and ignore the mindless RULE FOLLOWERS.

If you are developing an application you want to be able to use with a
Browser, Netscape's pretty damned open to third parties, as is HotJava their
only real competitor on the conceptual radar screen.