Re: [SLUG] Mozilla M16 released.

[Jeff Waugh <jdub@nospam.aphid.net>]

> What is the state of Mozilla?

It rocks, has done since about M3.

> I was reading through the postings on slashdot
> and it seems the people are far from happy about the slowness of releases
> and features.

Slashdot is a hive of flame and unpleasability (apologies to George Lucas).
The Slashmob aren't goign to be pleased by much at all, so don't worry about
them.

> Does anyone know when thew final release is due, Ive heard
> many people say 'when its ready', but its been in development for what seems
> like years now!

Yes on both counts. It has been in development for ages, because there was a
very big change of tac early on. Very, very risky, but very much worth it.
Mozilla are no longer building a browser, they're building a new platform
that runs on just about everything. This is Bill Gates worst nightmare come
true: Netscape are finally putting the masking tape on the Windows, so to
speak.

> I was under the impression the since netscape decided to
> release the source this was the first big test of the open source / bazaar
> type design paradigm. 

Hell no! It was the first big commercial support for open source
development, but look around you at all the Free Software that's been around
for years. Mozilla is a child of the revolution.

> How is Mozilla going to compare?

It's pretty bloaty as it stands, but that's due to the amount of development
code and mush that goes along with pre-alpha software.

Gecko, the rendering engine, is tiny and ferociously fast. They're building
the entire interface on top of that... But there's a hell of a lot that goes
into a modern browser (never trust the fool who says `it's just a browser').

> Any thoughts or further resources i could be looking at to find a few
> answers?


http://www.mozilla.org/

http://www.mozillazine.org/

are good to start with!


- Jeff


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