The famous case of Netscape

Transcription

1 The famous case of Netscape

2 Discipline of Software Architecture Term with the greatest number of definitions. It means several things to several people. Imagine the complexity of a system that makes your travel bookings based on your needs. It consults various air, hotel, and car rental databases and find the best deal for you, and accepts a single credit card payment for services from different service providers In today's software development environment it may take less than 30 days to put together such a complex system However, a well known fact significant number of software systems are not successful. A Majority of them are not built within the time and budget.

3 What separates successful software systems from not-so-successful systems?

4 The rise and fall of Netscape

5 Case of Netscape Communications One of the most talked about companies for its innovation. Flagship product Netscape Navigator (1990) A proprietary web browser with a huge user base and market dominance. Had very good features, commercial licensing, promotion from ISPs Was well positioned to take advantage of Internet revolution in late 1990s. April Dec 1994, released Navigator 1.0 For three platforms, instant success on Windows. Innovations included frames, cookies, SSL (secure sockets layer) protocol for secure communications. Introduced Javascript in its version 2.0

6 Rise of Netscape Microsoft realized the importance of having its own web browser. Began development of IE in Oct 1994, and launched it in Aug 1995 Competition was one-sided, No effect on Netscape. During the same time, Netscape was experimenting with web-based mini OS (Constellation) to enable users to access, edit and share files independent of hardware and OS they used. This was a big threat to Microsoft. Netscape released its version 4.0 client, messenger, collaborative threaded discussion, audio and video conferencing, group calendering and scheduling. This package was called Communicator 3 millions LOC, around 120 developers This was the period of rapid growth of Netscape.

7 Fall of Netscape (The Browser War) Microsoft could not catch up Netscape till IE 3.0 Started full fledged campaign to increase its share With IE 4.0, it appeared like a serious competition With IE 5.0, Microsoft surpassed Netscape Finally, the war was won by Microsoft. What is interesting for us to look in this? Netscape bundled a lot of functionality with its 4.0 Became spaghetti code because all developers were just focused on adding a lot of functionality on war footing. What was earlier fast and robust, became slow, buggy and crash prone. Netscape abandoned its effort to release 5.0 Threw open the code base of 5.0, for which there were no takers. Netscape started all over again with Communicator 6.0 with a new code base Later released version 7.0 before its disappearance.

8 Fall of Netscape (The Browser War) Microsoft could not catch up Netscape till IE 3.0 Started The usage full share fledged of Netscape campaign had to fallen increase its share from over 90 percent in the mid-1990s to With less IE than 4.0, one it percent appeared by the like end a serious of 2006competition With IE 5.0, Microsoft surpassed Netscape Finally, the war was won by Microsoft. What is interesting for us to look in this? Netscape bundled a lot of functionality with its 4.0 Became spaghetti code because all developers were just focused on adding a lot of functionality on war footing. What was earlier fast and robust, became slow, buggy and crash prone. Netscape abandoned its effort to release 5.0 Threw open the code base of 5.0, for which there were no takers. Netscape started all over again with Communicator 6.0 with a new code base Later released version 7.0 before its disappearance.

9 Fall of Netscape (The Browser War) Microsoft could not catch up Netscape till IE 3.0 Started full fledged campaign to increase its share With IE 4.0, it appeared like a serious competition With IE 5.0, Microsoft surpassed Netscape Finally, the war was won by Microsoft. What is interesting for us to look in this? Shortly before its acquisition by AOL, Netscape Netscape released bundled the a source lot of code functionality for its browser with its and 4.0 Became created spaghetti the Mozilla code Organization because to all coordinate developers were just focused on adding a lot of functionality future development on war of footing. its product What was earlier fast and robust, became slow, buggy and crash prone. Netscape abandoned its effort to release 5.0 Threw open the code base of 5.0, for which there were no takers. Netscape started all over again with Communicator 6.0 with a new code base Later released version 7.0 before its disappearance.

10 Fall of Netscape (The Browser War) Microsoft could not catch up Netscape till IE 3.0 Started full fledged campaign to increase its share With IE 4.0, it appeared like a serious competition With IE 5.0, Microsoft surpassed Netscape Finally, the war was won by Microsoft. What is interesting for us to look in this? Industry experts feel that Microsoft is not solely Netscape bundled a lot of functionality with its 4.0 Responsible for the fall of Became spaghetti code because all developers were just focused Netscapeon adding a lot of functionality on war footing. Netscape scripted its own end What was earlier fast and robust, became slow, buggy and crash prone. Netscape abandoned its effort to release 5.0 Threw open the code base of 5.0, for which there were no takers. Netscape started all over again with Communicator 6.0 with a new code base Later released version 7.0 before its disappearance.

11 Fall of Netscape (The Browser War) Microsoft could not catch up Netscape till IE 3.0 Started full fledged campaign to increase its share With IE 4.0, it appeared like a serious competition With IE 5.0, Microsoft surpassed What Netscape does the story of Netscape convey? Finally, the war was won by Microsoft. What is interesting for us to look in this? Netscape bundled a lot of functionality with its 4.0 Became spaghetti code because all developers were just focused on adding a lot of functionality on war footing. What was earlier fast and robust, became slow, buggy and crash prone. Netscape abandoned its effort to release 5.0 Threw open the code base of 5.0, for which there were no takers. Netscape started all over again with Communicator 6.0 with a new code base Later released version 7.0 before its disappearance.

12 Fall of Netscape (The Browser War) Microsoft could not catch up Netscape till IE 3.0 The result of attempting to scale up without Started full fledged campaign to increase its Planning share for such growth. Adhoc software development cannot win in the With IE 4.0, it appeared like a serious competition Long run. With IE 5.0, Microsoft surpassed Lesson: Netscape Software systems developed without A solid architecture and design cannot scale Finally, the war was won by Microsoft. Up to meet the growing demands. What is interesting for us to look in this? Netscape bundled a lot of functionality with its 4.0 Became spaghetti code because all developers were just focused on adding a lot of functionality on war footing. What was earlier fast and robust, became slow, buggy and crash prone. Netscape abandoned its effort to release 5.0 Threw open the code base of 5.0, for which there were no takers. Netscape started all over again with Communicator 6.0 with a new code base Later released version 7.0 before its disappearance.