Netscape Explorer
Netscape, as you may well have heard, has recently released the source to their popular browser. "Why would they possibly do such a thing?" you ask, "and will it succeed?"
Why
Of course, there have been other
written about Netscape's bold move, but this is my article, so naturally reflects my opinion. First, you must bear in mind the source release is not a "here, take it and run" kind of release; Netscape's made it open source, allowing others to download and work on the code, etc., but ultimately must give their changes back to the central repository. The reason I think they did this whole thing is twofold: firstly, it one-ups Microsoft who, in my experience, has a better browser implementation and also it allows Netscape to develop their browser faster (maybe) and at less cost (maybe).
Uppity
In the ongoing struggle to dominate the "market" for Internet browsers, mainly between Microsoft and Netscape, both companies now not only give their browsers away, but spend a ton of money promoting their respective products. The real war is with Start pages, however, with Microsoft's latest certainly being the better of the two. Netscape is still winning the "my page gets more hits than yours" war, however, because their installed browser base is simply bigger (for now).
Microsoft has, however, been aggressively marketing Internet Explorer (some, including the US Government, think too aggressively, but I'm working on a forthcoming article on that, too) and succeeding in attracting more and more users. Also, as I've mentioned earlier, I prefer their browser both as a user and designer; it's easier to use and supports more of Java, HTML and Style Sheets than Netscape, does it faster and renders it better (just ask other designers about collapsing tables and random frame sizing). Netscape, I think, sees this and desperately needs something more going for it (although it certainly has a lot of public support). That "more" is the popular (at least among many programmers) move of going the Linux open-source route.
...but will it work?
Did it work for Linux? Certainly; one man couldn't possibly have hoped to achieve the user base that Linux has without the support of so many people. Will it work for Netscape? Probably; the browser is already free, so giving away the source can't possibly hinder anything (and no, Microsoft wouldn't want it anyway; their HTML renderer is already superior). It will likely help their public opinion, especially since Big Bad Bill is the person people love to hate and will hopefully result in a better browser. In the long run, however, people will generally lose interest in developing for it and there will undoubtably be tons and tons of "custom" versions of Netscape running around (much like Unix today) with people having to scramble to keep up (as with Linux), something which won't appeal to Joe Public.
Also, I expect that Microsoft will still be allowed to integrate Explorer with Windows (well, it's pretty much too late; it's integrated into one of the recent NT service packs and will be in Win98, unless its release is barred. I'd go on, but plan a later article). When Explorer is integrated, most people, being lazy, will just leave it (and the default Start page) and forget about it. I'd also expect many novices to not even be aware that there are other Internet browsers when it comes with the operating system. For better or for worse, this is what I think'll happen.
CA
As an aside, having a singe browser dominate the market would be a mixed blessing: as a designer, only having to support one browser would certainly make things easier, but as a user the quality would likely suffer, although if it became poor enough another browser would likely surface.
So what?
Netscape, who initiated the whole "give it away free" browser war in the first place, is ultimately going to lose. If browsers still cost money, I think Netscape would probably still lose, but we'd likely end up with a better browser, open-source or no.