

The Netscape Dorm (1994) - vinutheraj
http://www.jwz.org/gruntle/nscpdorm.html

======
thought_alarm
Here's a fun bit of trivia: you can download the original Mosaic Netscape 0.9
beta today and experience for yourself what it was they shipped way back in
October 1994.

<http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/9341/netscape091.png>

<http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3833/netscape092.png>

<http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/6576/netscape093.png>

Details on how to set this up are here:
[http://www.jwz.org/blog/2008/03/happy-run-some-old-web-
brows...](http://www.jwz.org/blog/2008/03/happy-run-some-old-web-browsers-
day/)

Now excuse me while I go play Mille Bornes, Glider Pro, Lemmings, and Oregon
Trail...

~~~
nostrademons
Heh, I remember when the recommended practice for <script> tags was to put the
contents inside an HTML comment <!-- --> so that it was hidden from browsers
that didn't recognize the <script> tag. I believe it was even special-cased in
the JavaScript parser so that it wouldn't cause a JS error. I wonder if that's
still the case...

~~~
yuhong
Yea, in fact, have you seen this: <!--//--><![CDATA[//><!-- ... //--><!]]>

XHTML required the <![CDATA[, old browser compatiblity required the <!--.

------
tptacek
Thanks for posting this! I just mentioned this article (but couldn't remember
its name) to someone who called me for advice on bootstrapping a company. It's
the best writeup I know on the feeling of dread that keeps so many of us from
launching as early as we should.

~~~
vinutheraj
More than that, the diary logs show the real face of a startup, with the veil
of all the glamor removed. The guy was basically trying not to get killed
doing his startup.

------
RobGR
I wonder if he still thinks it was worth it.

It's sad to think of the enormous amount of human effort wasted by people who
blindly copied that behavior in a cargo-cult like attempt to get rich.

~~~
jmspring
Jamie has done ok and has been great at documenting his assorted endeavors, be
they at Mosaic (All Hail the Company) or Netscape/AOL/Mozilla. He also did
pretty well in the process, enough to buy / renovate / and provide
entertainment at the DNA Lounge and through his blog about that whole process.
Oh, and he still runs it and has provided some fun musical mixes over the
years.

Unfortunately, he was one of the few in the mid 90s that were pretty active in
writing (now referred to as blogging) about their experiences. His writings
are both amusing and informational, I wish more had.

A good deal of the early Netscape crowd did quite well. Many are still
involved in startups to this day -- Andreesen doing VC work, Montulli/Treuhaft
doing some cloud storage, Tom Paquin @ OnLive, etc.

~~~
chouck
Praise. It was "All Praise the Company", not "Hail". It was a Doctor Who
reference - <http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_4w.htm>

------
denimboy
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u404SLJj7ig>

Code Rush documentary from PBS. Details 98-99 when Netscape released their
source.

~~~
damncabbage
This is great. I'd read some of the pieces on jwz.org (including this one),
but watching Code Rush and then reading this again really helps me relate to
the stuff him and the rest of the team must've been going through.

(The key phrase that links the two together for me is "my one and only youth";
he both writes that in a diary entry and speaks it during a video interview in
_Rush_.)

------
dkarl
1\. I do not like thinking about how badly they smelled.

2\. I am very much enjoying OhLife's ability to make me write about my day,
and this gives me a standard to shoot for.

 _Saturday, 17 September 1994, 2pm. If I hear someone imitate Beavis and
Butthead one more time..._

3\. I've got bad news, Bea- I mean, Jamie.

------
SeoxyS
It blows my mind that this is the same person who created and owns DNA Lounge.

(Btw, DNA lounge is way cool. Tho it could use some nicer bouncers!)

------
arrel
The value of writing things down - details about finger pain and waxy skin
surely would have been lost memories, but are the things that make stories
like this so great.

------
merubin75
I've worked for three startups in my career so far. Besides working, a fair
amount of time was spent interviewing potential new employees. All had some
modicum of talent, but almost all had stars in their eyes from reading
glamorous puff pieces about the allure of startup life (Foosball! Unlimited
supplies of Jolt! No rules! Exclamation points everywhere!) They were so eager
to leave their corporate lives that they had illusions about what they were
really getting themselves into: shitty hours, cranky co-workers, and fixing
your own goddamned wifi.

I wish I had been able to show them this before we hired them. Would've saved
a LOT of trouble, tears, and heartache.

------
observer1
Is it possible we could stick to relatively new content here? I read through
all of the Netscape-related JWZ stuff more than 10 years ago. I suspect that
anyone who has an interest in the rise and fall of Netscape has done the same.

~~~
mechanical_fish
New people are born every day. HN is for them, too.

~~~
dotBen
Yes, with some of the dross that is beginning to make it to HN front page I'm
more inclined to agree that there is "one born every minute".

