Fun_People Archive
1 Apr
Even Young Companies Can Have Little Tinhorn Dictators

Date: Mon, 1 Apr 96 18:13:43 -0800
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: Even Young Companies Can Have Little Tinhorn Dictators

Forwarded-by: Keith Bostic <bostic@bsdi.com>
Forwarded-by: Wendell Craig Baker <wbaker@splat.baker.com>
From: Ramsey's Ramblings
      March 27, 1996
      http://www.cybout.com/html/ramsey.html

Even Young Companies Can Have Little Tinhorn Dictators

In a recent Newsbytes story, Mark Andreesen is quoted as saying
Netscape's Jim Clark will summarily fire anyone heard referring
to Netscape as a "browser." Another story is slightly different;
violators, it reports, will be required to buy Netscape stock at
a high price.

Perhaps Clark heard it's de rigueur for high profile startups to
have eccentric founders. Or maybe he's just a jerk. His preferred
term to replace "browser" is...nah. I'm not going to help spread
this! Why Jim Clark feels that "browser" is a dirty word is a
mystery. Netscape joins Intercon Systems Corp.'s NetShark, whose
motto is "Please don't call it a browser!", in trying to kill a
perfectly good term millions of people all over the world are using,
presumably for the purpose of distinguishing their product on the
market. Gah.

David Ramsey

© 1996 Peter Langston