Part of the Madhatter initiative announced at Sun Network
2002 is to deliver an open source desktop on both Linux and
Solaris. To achieve that goal we have moved away from the
branded Netscape product to the completely open source
version, Mozilla. This move will provide us greater opportunities
to integrate with our open desktop and help deliver value to our
customers.
As a happy user of Netscape 7.1 (on Win2K), which will probably be the last Netscape version, seems like Sun could follow through and put out a 7.1 version of Netscape, which fixes several very annoying bugs... stopping with a X.0 (i.e., a major release -dot- ZERO) version of software is not looking out for the interests of Sun's customers.Not too surprising though, since Netscape for Solaris has always seemed like kind of a half-hearted effort by Sun, with Solaris versions release time lagging Intel (Windows and Linux_ by a year or so.
This certainly reduces my Sun preference, since Sun isn't loyal to me, I'll not feel loyalty toward Sun.I use and LIKE Netscape 7.l on my Win2K desktop, so I really won't be looking for getting a new Sun workstation, since I can't my favorite software on it. My next workstation will be Linux on (not Sun) Intel-based hardware, not Solaris on Sparc. I used to use some old Sun hardware & maintain a Sun desktop, but since my hard-drive died, there doesn't seem like there's any point bothering with a Sun desktop any more. Lack of my favorite browser is a major factor, one of many.
