Rest in Peace

Well, it's finally happened...AOL has dumped Netscape. And, effectively, Mozilla, as they fired everyone from there (except for a skeleton transition team) as well. Although there is now the new Mozilla Foundation which is a non-profit that AOL gave Mozilla (code and rights) and $2m over the next two years. IBM, Sun, and Red Hat are also planning to support the new organization.

It's probably better that Netscape died; since Mozilla came about, Netscape had been nothing more than Mozilla with a flashier interface and half the features removed. Netscape was a household word for many a time and, until I found Mozilla, my primary browser. I still have Navigator 4.8 on my computer, needed for compatibility with half of the applets and JavaScript still out there, as well as one CS class' course work (I kid you not).

Of course, now that Netscape is dead, this software may vanish into oblivion. I have mixed feelings about this. Chiefly, because since many pages are custom-scripted for Netscape 4, this will force many people to update to more standards-friendly code or risk their websites being properly viewed by nobody.Since most businesses (and people, for that matter) see (rightly) that rewriting a web site is a time-consuming (and thus, for businesses, costly) process, they probably won't do it. Thus, for many people, there will be no way to view websites or access features they need to access.

To take one local example, the interface to UVA's online HR application process is written with a Java applet only fully functional in Netscape 4. This means that, when AOL finally pulls the plug on netscape.com, there will be no good way to access UVA's online application system. This creates problems, especially when it comes down to finding jobs, as UVA doesn't publish their complete job availability list except in the Java applet. Result: nobody can find the jobs UVA is looking to fill. More costly than a site overhaul.

I hope the PHBs realize this. Otherwise, there are bound to be inconveniences.