From: db@Tadpole.COM (Doug Barnes)
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 94 22:29:06 PST
To: jamesd@netcom.com (James A. Donald)
Subject: Re: BofA+Netscape
In-Reply-To: <199412130523.VAA01839@netcom4.netcom.com>
Message-ID: <9412130628.AA14196@tadpole.tadpole.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



James --

You seem to be reacting to a number of deliberate
hot-button items in the projected mythos of Netscape.

1) Do you really think that Internet standards are
   set by "the big boys?" Get a grip. Windows _still_
   doesn't include a TCP/IP stack, which much be
   grafted on with some pain. Apple has done a better 
   job, but only recently started shipping machines 
   with it.

2) Internet standards are set by the participants in
   the internet. They move much more quickly than any
   other standards body I've had the (mis)fortune of
   dealing with, the standards are open and freely available,
   and free reference implementations are required.
   I cannot think of a more favorable set of circumstances
   for the "little guy."

3) NCOM, by not merely circumventing but COMPLETELY
   IGNORING the Internet standards setting process and
   adjunct development of reference implementations, has
   set forth to reinvent the wheel, and badly at that.

4) This is completely incidental to the way they have
   soiled the community nest for WWW development, which
   contains not only the "big boys", who can probably
   take this sort of thing on the chin without blinking,
   but also a horde of other "little guys," many of whom
   are even smaller than NCOM.

Doug [ who has never worked on anything "for the masses", unless
       the users of AIX or Non-Stop UX are "the masses" ]