Full-Quoter Peter Potamus the Purple Hippo wrote:
> I don't know why your so hung up on a dead issue. It's over
> 10 years old, and you won't let it die. We've all said
> Netscape was a paid for product, and then they gave it away
> for free: http://www.mozilla.org/free-faq.html
I want to know why you and others are so reluctant to avoid talking
about Netscape's October 1994 press release where they stated that it
would be their policy to make Netscape available at no cost.
> I wonder if this is you:
> http://www.ufaq.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=28425
Yes it is. I was advised to post my question on that site early in
this thread.
And again nobody there directly addressed the question, which was why
did Netscape announce that Navigator was going to be free, then change
it a short time later before finally making it available for free.
And now I see in that thread that some are claiming that Navigator was
perhaps more "free" than not:
"You could download the full versions, and use them without charge
if you were in education or a student. I know because I downloaded
each new version."
No mention there about a 90-day expiry.
And again there is more talk about IE being a paid product, which I
can find no evidence for that claim.
The claim is absurd, given that Micro$oft integrated and bundled IE
(version 2) into Windows 95 OSR1 in February 1996 and bundled IE
version 3 into Win-95 OSR-2 in October 1996.
Prior to February 1996, IE was available (only?) as part of Microsoft
Plus! for Windows 95 (Internet Jumpstart Kit). Plus! seems to have
been a paid add-on product for Windows 95. Since Windows 95 release
date was August 1995, and presumably Plus! was first released
concurrently with Win-95, that means that technically you were paying
for IE version 1.0 indirectly when you purchased Plus!.
So the time-frame for needing to pay money to obtain IE would have
been August 1995 to February 1996 - about 18 months. After that, IE
was integrated into Win-95 SR-1 so that you weren't directly paying
money for it.
There is no evidence that Microsoft ever sold IE as a separate,
stand-alone product.
Netscape's desire to sell Navigator vs making it available for free
probably corresponds with the availability in August 1995 of IE
version 1 via paid purchase of Plus!. With Win-95 SR-1 and the
integration of IE 2 in February 1996, Netscape would have been selling
Navigator when IE was essentially being given away for free.
Looking at the history of Navigator, it seems likely that versions 0.9
through 1.1 were probably free, as Win-95 did not yet exist. The long
time-frame between Navigator 1.1 and 1.22 (March - August 1995)
corresponds with a stall in development until August when Win-95 was
released.
So my guess is that Navigator 1.22 was probably the transition point
between the free policy and charging for it. And then as others have
mentioned, Navigator reverted to a free product at some point during
version 4, which could be anywhere from June 1997 to November 1998.
It appears that the last version of Navigator 3.x came in October
1996, which coincides with Win-95 OSR-2 and it's version of IE 2.0.
Then we have a relatively long time-gap until Navigator 4.0 in June
1997.
So the various versions of Netscape seem closely tied to Windows 95,
and the policy as to if, and when, to charge money for Navigator is
also tied closely to IE and it's availability policy.
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