Last week Netscape
released version 7.0 of their browser. The browser
is heavily based upon the free/open source
Mozilla
browser. This is a significant event because it
proved against formidable odds that open source
software can deliver competitive products without
exorbitant, onerous and restrictive licensing
that can benefit a for-profit company. For medicine
it is a great asset because of its familiar name and
that the browsers functionality can be embedded
into medical software in ways the original
programmers may not have forseen. Unknown, is
whether it will be able to regain some of its
former market share.