[geeks] Flicker users u in arms over MS acquisition...

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

On Mon, Feb 04, 2008 at 07:47:47AM -0600, Lionel Peterson wrote:

> I always had a problem understanding how Netscape made real money with thier 
> product (I understand how they made money as a stock) - they had the most 
> convoluted marketing for the browser that I've ever seen. Now that I think it 
> through, I suppose they made real money by selling site licenses to large 
> organizations and OS vendors, as well as from their server software, but 
> taking something free and making money out of it is not unique (Apache, 
> Sendmail, etc.) but they were among the first...

AFAIK the day Microsoft announced that IE would be free, Netscape announced
they would give away the browser and charge only for their server. I think the
most money they made was selling the company to AOL.

The first case I remember was around 1979 or so when someone (not the author) 
took a "mod" off of the CBT tape and converted it to a commerical product.
A friend called them and asked what the difference was between the free
version and theirs and they said "support".


Geoff.

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