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Ask Netscape how they feel about Microsoft giving Internet Explorer away.
by Harimwakairi 12y ago
Ask Netscape how they feel about Microsoft giving Internet Explorer away.
- tedunangst 12y agoAsk Microsoft how they feel about Linus giving Linux away.
- kamaal 12y agoGiving away IE for free hasn't worked that well for Microsoft anyway. Open Source communities giving away *BSD's and Linux for free has been disastrous for Microsoft, on the longer run. Android and iOS have eaten Microsoft's lunch big time.
- pmontra 12y agoNetscape wa giving its browser away for free too. I remember I was downloading it from netscape.com without paying. What made Microsoft subject to an antitrust investigation was bundling IE with Windows. MS lost the case but too late for Netscape. To answer another reply to your post, that's also the difference with Linus distributing Linux for free. No bundling. Furthermore there is the open source vs closed source issue which is no small difference too.
- avemuri 12y agoThey made it free in response to Microsoft and refocused on monetizing servers.
- pmontra 12y agoI really never paid for it. According to http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape_Navigator http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape_Navigator it was free for non commercial users. There were a few changes along the months but eventually "the full version of the browser continued to be made available for free online".