The Netscape Dorm (1994)

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.<p><a href="http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/9341/netscape091.png" rel="nofollow">http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/9341/netscape091.png</a><p><a href="http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3833/netscape092.png" rel="nofollow">http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3833/netscape092.png</a><p><a href="http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/6576/netscape093.png" rel="nofollow">http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/6576/netscape093.png</a><p>Details on how to set this up are here: <a href="http://www.jwz.org/blog/2008/03/happy-run-some-old-web-browsers-day/" rel="nofollow">http://www.jwz.org/blog/2008/03/happy-run-some-old-web-brows...</a><p>Now excuse me while I go play Mille Bornes, Glider Pro, Lemmings, and Oregon Trail...

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.

I wonder if he still thinks it was worth it.<p>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.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u404SLJj7ig" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u404SLJj7ig</a><p>Code Rush documentary from PBS. Details 98-99 when Netscape released their source.

1. I do not like thinking about how badly they smelled.<p>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.<p><i>Saturday, 17 September 1994, 2pm. If I hear someone imitate Beavis and Butthead one more time...</i><p>3. I've got bad news, Bea- I mean, Jamie.

It blows my mind that this is the same person who created and owns DNA Lounge.<p>(Btw, DNA lounge is way cool. Tho it could use some nicer bouncers!)

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.

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

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.