According to a C|net article the source code of Messenger, an important component of the Communicator Suite, will be unveiled over the next several weeks. It seems Netscape is currently removing some encryption and third-party code. So far no sign of it on Mozilla.org.

Brian Bernstein writes "Just incase you didn't get enough with FishCam, LitterBox Cam and other assorted items, Netscape's Engineering department has reverse engineered a surplus bus sign and has created a web page for you to enter your own messages to be displayed to the department and the world. Worth a look if you've got a few minutes... " Boy I've seen some crazy things in my day, and this is right up there.

Arne Coucheron warned us that Netscape's new layout stuff is now available in early code form. For those of you who've been paying a lot of attention, this was that thing known as raptor. You can read about it or download it.

Eric Molitor sent us this link where you can read that sanity won out, and Wang's silly patent claim against NS has been tossed out. I wasn't really concerned. (thanks to John Burg for the newer link.

At C|net's News alerts we found that Netscape will soon release the source code of it's Netscape Directory SDK and the SDK source of Netscape Console.
On the same page we read that InterBase Software, a subsidiary of Inprise (formerly known as Borland), will release a free Linux version of its database server, InterBase 4.0, in Q3 of this year. Wonder how Oracle feels about this one...

After the success of yesterday's Package Discussion, I've decided to open another can of worms up today. Making Money on OpenSource is a hard thing to do. Companies can't pay their programmers without cold hard cash, and programmers can't eat without cash. Hit the link below to read a very interesting bit written by Eric W. Sink of CSFactory, Inc.. We can't all write books about software and live off that, and we certainly can't all support others and make a living. How can programmers feed their family in a world where they give away what they do for free? Hit the link below to read more good stuff.

Steve Rojem sent us a Sm@rt Reseller article where you can read about Netscape and Linux. The main point of the article is that other companies haven't joined in. Well, Corel seems to be making a step with their VNC, but Oracle and Informix are holding back. The negative comments are typical: Accountability (unfair because RedHat and Caldera will support Linux systems) Demand (Considering there are as many as 10 million Linux Boxes, I question this) and Lack of Central Marketing Push (a valid pointy haired reason, but certainly not a real reason). Mike Saranga, Informix's senior VP, says they do 16 ports right now, but won't do another unless it makes sense. Considering Linux is the fastest growing Unix, and soon will be the largest *nix, I wonder if it will "Make Sense" in time to give Informix a chance against Mysql, mSQL and PostgreSQL. Is it to late for the normal Commercial Databases on Linux? I know you guys use databases... what do you think?

There is an article that flew through c.o.l.a. from Corel where it is revealed that they are going to be at the OCLUG next thursday to discuss Corel's Position on open source, and how Corel is going to address this new industry development. Perhaps they read My Editorial on why they should open their Suite's source? Hit the link below to read the message from c.o.l.a. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that this announcement is going to be big. If Corel opens their suite, the next major puzzle piece will snap into place.

An anonymous reader shot in a link to this poll at scripting.com where you can vote on Netscape, and your likelihood to use it now that the source is available. Update Dave decided to close the poll, so save your time.

Matt Martin writes "CNN is discussing an alleged meeting between MS and Netscape in 1995 about forming an alliance in the Web-Browser market. Andreesen describes the visit as being "like a visit from Don Corleone." " Ouch. That ain't gonna help.

Eric Maland wrote in to give us this link where you can read about todays Official Slashdot Stupid Lawsuit (OSSL). The suit is over a patent created in 1984, and apparently is over using a Save As dialog box to save files with an extension, and using that extension to decode files later (eg, what every DOS/Win program has ever done) and over the concepts of bookmarks. Wang just lost a million respect points in my book.

Jay Bloodworth has written a nice editorial on Linux, and its use in primary education. He talks about pros, cons, and what needs to happen to make Linux and Education go together hand and glove. Follow the link below and learn more...

First let me just post a little celebration:Yesterday Slashdot had a new hits high- for the first time we broke 100,000 hits in a single day (that's pages, not counting images people). I'm happy as a clam. And the Slashdot T-Shirts should be ready RSN. Now the bad news:

A lot of email and posting has been flying around about Slashdot, Geek, OpenScape.org, and several other web sites, and I want to give my 2 cents. First, I thank the many of you who appreciate Slashdot so much, that you are willing to defend it so strongly- but a few of you went to far. Other web sites are entitled to do their thing. If you don't like their thing, stay here. If you don't like my thing, go there. Or read both. I work damn hard to make sure that as many people as possible enjoy slashdot, but that doesn't mean there can't be competition. Hit the link below for more.

Fedor Kouranov wrote in with this article where Computer Shopper columnist Paul Bonner rips Netscape apart for their source code decision. I don't disagree that IE4 is extendable- all MS projects are great at this, but he blows of Netscape and just accepts that Microsoft owns the industry. Personally I prefer thinking of a future that's open instead of held inside the walls of some mega corporation is a little better than one where Microsoft over powers each new industry as it appears, but hey, I'm an optimist.

Thom Phillabaum wrote in with this article where you can read about Ted Nelson's latest thing. Since inventing hypertext, he's moved on to even more interesting ways of connecting information. I'm interested in seeing the product myself, if it works, it will be wonderful.

Kendall Koning has written in with a mini editorial that everyone should read. In addition, read The Linux Advocacy Mini HOWTO, On many occasions, Linux users appear to be more of a mob than a team. I've fallen prey to this more than a few times in the thousand articles I've posted on these pages. Its something that we all need to work on if we want Linux to truly be mainstream.

Barksdale has elected to return 300,000 shares granted to him in Netscape stock options. The most amazing part is that he did this on a day that the stock went up 6 points, on speculations of Netscape being bought-out by Sun. Realizing that Barksdale is pretty wealthy, this is still a pretty cool thing to do.

Aaron Campos wrote in with this link which I hereby declare the pointy haired article of the day. Basically the author believes that opening the Netscape Source will spell 'the end of for the ease of the lowest common denominator'. In all honesty, that end has been here for years- from the CENTER tag to ActiveX. It doesn't really surprise me that MSNBC would find this sort of spin- especially when open source standards built the internet, and only now are closed source standards ripping it apart at the seams.

v.tiknius wrote in to hook us up with this link where you can read about 'Raptor', the codename for a replacement for Netscape's page rendering code. Hopefully it will fix the zany bugs we've all come to work around, as well as let Netscape to perform as fast as the newer, lighter browsers. The big issue I caught is the need for Mac and Unix developers to help. This would be a cool project for anyone to join in on.

Liam J. Furniss wrote in with this link over to Be. For those of you who haven't heard about this, there has been rumblings that BeOS x86 contains some of the LILO code, and might be violating a copyright somewhere. The link above has a statement from Jean-Louis Gassee (Be CEO) and he mentions this in an article about Netscape.

"On a closely related issue, eagle-eyed developers have questioned our adherence to the Open Software pact in relevant parts of our recent release such as the bootloader. Specifically, if we use or modify public domain code, are we putting that source code back into the public domain as we are obligated to do? We're investigating this as I write this and will take whatever corrective action is necessary."

I've heard arguements from a dozen folks about this, but I'm glad to see a firm statement that things will be set straight.