US Report: Netscape says source code giveaway a hit

ZDNN, US ZDNet US

Published: 14 Jul 1998 11:05 BST

"It's been overwhelming," said Jim Hamerly, vice president of the client products division at Netscape. "We expected a lot of tire kickers, but what's been amazing is that within the first week, we already saw people putting up additions to the code."

Among the enhancements to the Communicator groupware suite, which includes the Navigator browser: an eXtensible Markup Language parser, developed by Internet programmer James Clark, enabling Navigator to display Web pages created using both the HyperText Markup Language and the next-generation XML. Another surprise, Hamerly said, is that the Windows version of the code is the most requested version at its open source site, called The Mozilla Organization. The Macintosh version is second, followed by the Unix edition.

"We didn't expect it to so closely follow PC market share. What we know of the open source community is that it's predominantly Unix," Hamerly said. "There's no denying that there are a great many more Windows developers, and we're happy to have them working on the code."

Although the next version of Communicator is due shortly - the beta for Version 4.5 is planned for release later this month - it won't be until Communicator 5.0 ships later this year that users will benefit from some of the enhancements created by the Web community.

Interest in Netscape's source code comes at a time when Netscape is seeing renewed enthusiasm for its client software. Last week, the company announced that Fujitsu joined the ranks of PC manufacturers distributing Netscape client software with its PCs.

Despite analysts' expectations that Microsoft's Internet Explorer would take the browser lead by mid-1998, Navigator's market share has been holding steady at just above 50 percent. Netscape said its own survey of key Web sites puts its share at 56 percent to 58 percent.

Analysts, though, were quick to note the client software and source code giveaways will be a success only if they contribute to the bottom line. "It's the money that counts, and Netscape has yet to prove itself a good marketing company," said Rob Enderle, a senior analyst at Giga Information Group in the U.S.