ESR writes "Earlier today, Marc Andreesen of Netscape requested from OSI's president, Eric S. Raymond, a perspective on the future of Mozilla in connection with the AOL/Netscape/Sun negotiations.
You can read OSI's An Open Letter to AOL at the Open Source web site."

Moredhel sent us a link to an an article by Scott McNealy sends a quick description: "Why Java, HTML and ASCII (yes, really) is good and proprietary is bad. Why Sun should be less worried about selling Sun hardware. Why Intellectual Property is like a banana. Very U.S.-centric (W is *not* always next to "Q") and not as technically correct as one would like, but still a good read. And very topical now he has control of Netscape (though not Mozilla)... "

AOL bought Netscape to gain an advantage by integrating the features of its portal with the browser, something that Netscape's been doing with its Netcenter portal. This would allow AOL to move back to being a proprietary, fee-based online service... something MSN tried and failed at. Interestingly, there will be little for Barksdale and Andressen to do, once AOL takes over... Time to set up a Mozilla based startup? In related news, Sun's McNealy disputed Microsoft's claim that the Sun-AOL-Netscape deal changes anything about the DOJ court case. Update I wonder what all this will do for newhoo, and Red Hat, both of whom have received Netscape investments.

Andrew Nicholas Leonard writes "Jamie Zawinski has an article over at Mozilla.org discussing the Netscape/AOL merger. Worth a read. " The gist of it is that Mozilla will continue as normal because Netscape != Mozilla.org.

The big story in the other media this morning was, amidst much happy chatter about browsers, portals and dollars, this question: Who would dominate the Internet? AOL or Microsoft? Where Do You Want to Hide Today?

AOL will renew its contract to use IE because its CEO believes "It is critical to be on the Microsoft desktop", the condition upon which Windows is shipped with AOL on the desktop. If AOL won't be using Mozilla, will it be interested in funding its development? Perhaps Sun will be the one to fund Mozilla development to increase the number of pure Java platforms.. update! According to this TechWeb article, Netscape's Mike Homer, director of Netscape's Netcenter division, is stating that Netscape will continue to administer Mozilla.org. Further confirmation comes in this Wired article.

Well, it's official. AOL is going to purchase Netscape for 4.2 billion dollars. You can read about it in ZDNet. You can also read about it in at C|Net as well. Update: Read Jamie's comments on the merger and make up your own mind.

The bad news about the new Netscape-AOL-Sun conglomerate is that the battle between individual expression and freedom and corporation domination and greed on the Web just got a lot uglier. We're getting the one thing the world needs the least: another giant, powerful and synergistic information hydra. We don't, as journalists are saying, finally have some competition for Microsoft. We just have another Microsoft.

And the good news? There isn't any:

Looks like This story will make the buzz of the week. AOL is in talks to buy Netscape (all stocks), and Sun Microsystems also could gain control of Netscape's business software operations in a 4 Billion dollars stocks deal. HNQ:I just wonder what will be with the Mozilla browser and Netscape's move in the Open Source issue. According to C|Net - "If completed, the deal would help both AOL and Sun compete against Microsoft." We'll see..

Fresh from the world's first known Media Gasbag Referendum, the (somewhat) Humbled, Bloodied but Unbowed Gasbag Stays On.

Surviving the World's First Interactive Media Vote.

Or: How I Was Supported Within An Inch of My Life.

sherman1 writes "Yet again Corporate America goes after the little guy. Andrew Neise, the sole programmer for Fresh Soft Inc is being sued over his freeware "AntiGen" program that was made to help the users of the Internet rid themselves of the Back Orifice trojan. Sybari Software is sueing Fresh Soft for violating their copyright on the word "antigen""

getafix writes "www.newhoo.com (was gnuhoo - featured on slashdot) has been bought by netscape. The newhoo folks owned the database, although the contents of the database were submitted by volunteers." Financial terms were not released, but the boys in charge now have offices at Netscape.

Vote For Me and I?ll Set You Free -- Some of you have said loudly and repeatedly that I don't belong here. So herewith, an exercise in Interactive Media Democracy, Unprecedented in the Western World! Vote your media. Keep the Jerk or Get Rid of Him, a Slashdot Poll:

Stradivarius writes "San Francisco based BitJazz Inc. has developed a lossless compression technology derived from quantum thermodynamics, which it calls "condensation". Unlike many other approaches which work one scan line at a time, their algorihm finds implicit patterns in the entire image, yielding an average compression ratio of 2.5. "

Duane Morin writes in with this pressing issue he would like some information on: "I recently did a series of articles for a security magazine, and they've approached me to do a series on Linux security. Specifically, businesses that are using Linux to provide web storefronts, and the associated issues that are involved. And it occurred to me that although I know where to get links for businesses that use Linux (such as the Post Office), I don't know where to find out about businesses that are actually hosting their storefronts using it. Can you point me to some places where I might find this information?" Click below for the rest...

Psarchasm wrote in to note that NetStat has recieved a makeover, no MCI, but 15 other spots are generating good net traffic reports. Mike Evans wrote in to send us a link to RFC2441, A tribute to Jon Postel by Danny Cohen. An anonymous reader wrote in to send us an article where you can read about a biochemist who is now in legal trouble for distributing genetically altered seeds that grow Oranges containing THC. He designed them because cops confiscated his car 15 years earlier. Bill Bumgarner wrote in to say that A Sherlock Plugin for searching Slashdot is now available. Bob McCown sent us a link to an interesting Pen Based Computer. Another anonymous reader wrote in to send us a link to an excellent Linux Introduction Series over at Avault on Penguin Games. Nick sent in an oldy but goodie, a link to the Unix Haters Handbook. It comes with its own Unix Barf Bag.

DaBuzz wrote in to send us a link to a newsbytes story where you can read about the Netscape's web browser. This article talks a bit about Mozilla, and Netscape's next generation rendering engine. According to this story, things are progressing nicely. Good to hear it.

Linux World has a report from the Oracle OpenWorld panel. Linus said that he will be focussing on bringing Linux to normal users. Indeed, the competition is not high end Unixes, but Windows. He also mentioned that 2.2 should be out by Christmas. Intel also announced a Linux Community Program. Despite recent speculation, Larry Ellison did not discuss a Linux strategy, but an Oracle vice-president reaffirmed Oracle's commitment to Linux. Moreover, Oracle called upon Sun today to put Java into the Open Source community to accelerate its growth. Note that Netscape's vice president said that the emphasis should not be put on the OS but the apps it runs and the services around it: similar to this idea. Thanks to beg and ensor for their URLs. updated

Travis Simon has submitted to us a feature on Free Software, and his feelings about it. He talks about meeting with RMS, and his before and after views on the subject of Proprietary vs. Free sotware. I enjoyed the piece a lot.

Rob Kaper sent us a link to something you might have missed on Freshmeat. It's a nifty site that is tracking Server uptimes. El wrote in to send us a link to "Penguin Lust" which I found silly enough to post. Josh Baugher sent us a link to the so called Christmas Document that you might find amusing. Quazi sent us a link to a ZDNet IE5 Review that normally wouldn't deserve a glance. But apparently a Slashdot fan was involved. Or just as likely, they wanted some hits and figured that this publicity might send some clicks their way *grin*. iota wrote in to send us a link about Mexico using Linux in schools and saving themselves over a hundred million bucks in the process. Mark Woon sent us a link to a funny BMW ad poking fun of MS. Lastly, worth noting (and based on the submissions box, and my msglog, a lot of you did) Red Hat has updated their website with a cleaner, and frameless design. Joy!