Friday, November 21, 2003

Central vis a vis Constellation I received a couple of interesting responses to my last post re: references to Constellation and Central.  I want to make sure that the only comparision that I think is meaningful is around the technical mission of Constellation -- creating a new, Internet-centric shell for distributed applications; for push/notification-based data delivery; for the integration of collaborative applications; expanding the browser app footprint to the local filesystem/storage, etc.  But the comparisons end there.  Unlike Netscape, who "mooned the giant", Macromedia has done an incredible job of navigating and supporting Microsoft platform's, rather than thumbing their nose at them.  Indeed, as Longhorn gains adoption over the very long-term, it's nearly certain that Macromedia will embrace and surface and interoperate with the great features of it.  Of course, the other big difference between Netscape Constellation and Macromedia Central is that Central shipped, and it's a high-quality, powerful and approachable platform for Internet-connected applications and content! 8:24:43 AM    comment []

Google or Central as New 'Constellation' Kevin Werbach had this choice blurb in his Supernova Report, recounting the last gasp attempt by Netscape to take on the Windows desktop with it's browser-based 'Constellation' project, which, incidentally, never shipped -- significant parts of the undertaking were being written in Java, which was not nearly mature enough as a client platform to be used for such an effort. Google Constellation? Some of you may remember a product from Netscape around 1997 called Constellation. This was back in the days when Netscape was riding high, having rejected a huge buyout offer from Microsoft. Constellation was a frontal assault on the Windows franchise -- an attempt to make the browser the primary interface for accessing files and applications.  Microsoft responded with various mechanisms to put Web content on the Windows desktop, and tightly integrated Internet Explorer into Windows.  Of course, Constellation failed, Netscape lost its browser lead, and the company was never heard from again.  (Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but you get the idea.) Kevin was asking whether the new Google Deskbar was an attempt at such a maneuver; perhaps it is.  I was struck by the similarities to Macromedia Central, at least in terms of ambition and role. 12:05:48 AM    comment []