Netscape's Gamble
In the previous two series we told the stories of projects that were open from the start: a kernel begun by a student and a tool built in a crisis. This series is different. This time a large commercial company, with staff, shareholders and a best-selling product, decided to open its core code to everyone. At the time, that was almost unheard of.
The browser wars
In the mid-1990s, Netscape was one of the best-known names on the internet. Its browser, Navigator, was the gateway to the web for millions. But a powerful rival had entered the field: Internet Explorer, which Microsoft offered free and bundled with Windows. When a rival browser is already installed on most computers, selling a browser gets very hard.
Netscape had to make a big decision. Carrying on the same way, competing with a giant that gave its product away, had no clear future.
The 22 January announcement
On 22 January 1998, Netscape announced in a press release what it called "bold plans": to make the source code for the next generation of its browser, Communicator 5.0, available for free licensing on the internet. At the same time it said Navigator and the Standard Edition of Communicator were free to all users from that day.
The company's reasoning was in the release itself. The move would let Netscape "harness the creative power of thousands of programmers on the Internet" by incorporating their best enhancements into future versions. Netscape said the new licence would build on the heritage of the GNU General Public License, the same licence you read about in the Linux series, and promised a special website where people could download the code, post their enhancements and join discussions.
But the decision wasn't pure idealism; there was a business calculation too. The same release said the aim was to accelerate development and free distribution of the browser, "further seeding the market" for Netscape's enterprise solutions and its Netcenter portal. Put simply: make the browser free and open, so customers come for your other products.
Building a home
Saying it was easier than doing it. A commercial browser's code, written for years behind closed doors, had to be prepared for public eyes; a new licence had to be written and a place built to coordinate a community. Netscape's own staff also had to get used to their work being visible to, and criticised by, strangers: a cultural shift that is never easy for a company.
According to Mozilla's official timeline, the mozilla.org project was launched on 23 February 1998, a group tasked with coordinating contributions from inside and outside Netscape. And on 31 March 1998, right on the promised schedule, the Communicator source code was posted on the internet via mozilla.org.
Mozilla's history page says that within the first year, new community members from around the world had contributed new functionality, enhanced existing features and become engaged in the management and planning of the project itself. The project, as that page puts it, had become "larger than any one company."
The turning point
The turning point of this part was the boldness of a company that was losing. Instead of fighting a much bigger rival alone, Netscape changed the rules of the game and invited others to collaborate.
Lesson for businesses
In an uneven game, changing the rules can be better than competing by them. If a rival can offer your product for free, perhaps your value needs to lie somewhere else.
Second, opening your code should still have a business rationale. Netscape said plainly which part of its business the move was meant to support. Clear goals help everyone set the right expectations.
Third, keep your promised dates. Releasing the code on the announced schedule showed the young community that the invitation was serious.
Next: opening the code was the easy part. Building a good browser from it took years, years in which Netscape was sold and many called the project a failure.
منابع / Sources
- "Netscape Announces Plans to Make Next-Generation Communicator Source Code Available Free on the Net", Netscape press release (Wayback Machine copy), 1998-01-22 — https://web.archive.org/web/19990117022449/http://home.netscape.com/newsref/pr/newsrelease558.html
- "Free Navigator FAQ", mozilla.org archive, 1998 — https://www-archive.mozilla.org/free-faq
- "Timeline", MozillaWiki, n.d. — https://wiki.mozilla.org/Timeline
- "History of the Mozilla Project", Mozilla, n.d. — https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/history/details/
