American History 1988
Chapter 314 - 304: Mosaic’s Decision

Chapter 314: Chapter 304: Mosaic’s Decision

The Mosaic browser not only captivated Dean’s mind, but it also rose to a new level of priority at the NCSA.

The story has to be traced back to half a year ago, at which time Mosaic was a project that did not receive much attention.

Smar, the director of the research center, originally intended just to design a simple and practical browser for non-researchers.

He planned to use it as a sort of research achievement to apply for more funding from the National Science Foundation or the University of Illinois.

However, when a student named Anderson put it on a shared website, things began to change.

Within just a week, this browser named Mosaic was downloaded thousands of times.

It became very popular, and many proactive users sent a plethora of suggestions for improvement to Anderson and his team.

Most of these users came from various universities or research institutions and were tech-savvy, so their suggestions were very targeted.

The unprepared Anderson and his team were overwhelmed by the surge of feedback.

This exceeded their expectations, as the project had not been taken seriously by everyone at the start.

However, a few quick responders immediately got busy.

Some were in charge of collecting user feedback, others took responsibility for updating Mosaic’s features.

They were just a group of interns, full of energy at that time.

Most importantly, they felt respected and a sense of accomplishment.

This led them to devote themselves to maintaining Mosaic with great enthusiasm, and then things got even more out of hand.

Following several updates, Mosaic became widely popular across various universities.

The number of downloads soon broke ten thousand, thirty thousand, accumulating effect gradually taking place.

By then, the situation was no longer something Anderson and his team could lead; the NCSA started to fully fund the development and operation of Mosaic.

This included not only more funds but also greater authority for Anderson and his team.

Even to support the project, the NCSA acquired some of the hardware equipment needed for Mosaic.

With the substantial investment from the research center, Mosaic was managed more and more maturely.

And a few weeks later, they released a Windows version that had been widely suggested before, and the efficiency was nearly on par with Netscape.

But why did the NCSA suddenly support the Mosaic project with such force?

Initially, it was hardly given any importance.

The reason was that Smar realized that Mosaic had the potential for commercialization.

As mentioned before, the NCSA obtained a portion of its research funding through licensing to commercial companies.

So, it had a motive for commercial profit, and although Smar was a professor of physics,

he also knew that something so popular must have commercial value.

Therefore, they decided to invest some resources and then wait for the market’s response.

The results after half a year told him that the Mosaic project might indeed have great potential.

The download count of a few hundred thousand exceeded everyone’s expectations.

It might even become the most successful commercial project at the NCSA.

Especially recently, when Smar received good news from his European colleagues.

This software, which was improved upon the ideas of Berners Lee, was no longer at risk of copyright infringement.

Back when Mosaic was first becoming popular, Smar had talked to Anderson and their team about it.

Mosaic borrowed heavily from Berners Lee’s work, though they had published an acknowledgement on the help page.

But as a senior researcher, Smar always had doubts about this kind of borrowing.

However, now there’s no need to worry about that, as all designs have been open-sourced, and Mosaic no longer carried any risk of infringement.

Given this, Smar was already considering how to commercialize it.

Someone in his management team suggested charging for Mosaic, like other commercial software.

Smar thought this method was somewhat feasible, but he was more in favor of a commercial licensing model.

Because the NCSA was a research institution, it lacked business experience and was not suitable for this task.

But no matter which method of commercialization was ultimately used, Anderson and his team should no longer continue to control Mosaic.

It must belong to the NCSA, or to be precise, the control should be taken over by Smar’s own management team.

Actually, he had already started doing so.

...

Lately, Anderson had been very annoyed.

Mosaic had been very well received, and his team was full of enthusiasm.

But as Mosaic became increasingly popular, constraints also began to emerge.

During the peak months, the development team received tens of thousands of emails from users every day.

These emails covered a wide range of topics, including complaints, suggestions, questions, and requests for troubleshooting methods.

This made their team the center of attention, but soon Smar began to intervene.

He may have provided the equipment necessary for Mosaic, but his commands to the development team increased.

Lately, Anderson was troubled by Smar’s team—they always liked to nitpick everything.

That even included the coffee mugs Anderson and his team had requested for purchase; he couldn’t imagine what else was waiting for him.

Just as Anderson was sitting in front of his computer, muttering to himself, Smar walked in.

Anderson was taken aback, damn! Was his cursing that effective?

"Anderson, I have something I want to talk with you about," Smar, with his arms crossed, leaned against Anderson’s desk.

He was accustomed to doing so as the director of the research center, and no one found it inappropriate.

"Mr. Smar, please go ahead," Anderson, although dissatisfied, still maintained basic courtesy as an intern.

"Considering the large user base of Mosaic and that your team is struggling to cope with such workload,

from now on, all user emails will be handled by a dedicated front desk for responses."

"What?" Anderson was stunned, he didn’t quite understand.

"Mr. Smar, I believe that as developers, we need to be the first to know the users’ needs."

"That’s not a conflict," Smar spread his hands, "The front desk will pass on user feedback."

"But..."

"Anderson," Smar interrupted him, "you need to focus on the development of Mosaic.

The NCSA will handle the rest, and we should commercialize Mosaic as soon as possible."

"Wait!" Anderson, who had been harboring complaints, suddenly looked up, "Is the NCSA planning to commercialize Mosaic?"

"Of course," Smar looked at him strangely, "We’ve invested so many resources, not to share them without compensation.

The NCSA is a research organization, and our funding must be directed toward key projects."

"Smar, the Mosaic browser shouldn’t be charged for, you can’t do this!"

Unexpectedly, Anderson was very resistant to the decision of the NCSA to commercialize Mosaic.

"We emulated browsers made by others and then, like them, made it freely available on the internet for people to download.

This was all done voluntarily by everyone. That’s how the Internet should be, that’s our tacit ’sharing’ spirit."

It must be said that as an ungraduated student, Anderson still harbored a bit of a geek’s fantasy about the web.

In fact, not just him, but also the other students in the development team had no intention of commercializing Mosaic.

However, on hearing Anderson’s words, Smar came close to laughing at his naivety.

"Come on, Anderson, Mosaic now has hundreds of thousands of users.

Do you know how much it costs the NCSA to maintain such a large community?"

Anderson was somewhat speechless, he had indeed not considered this before.

"The spirit of sharing on the internet might be right, but the NCSA should not bear the cost involved."

"The initial goal of establishing the NCSA was to develop technology useful to society, funded by federal government assistance.

Now that Mosaic perfectly fits this bill, isn’t this the best opportunity for the NCSA to give back to the community?"

Anderson still held on to his view that the NCSA, a non-profit organization, should not charge for Mosaic.

Smar had little regard for these words, Anderson was too naive.

But for the sake of Mosaic, he still patiently attempted to persuade him.

"Anderson, the NCSA will take care of the operational matters of Mosaic.

If I remember correctly, you’re graduating in December, right?"

Anderson nodded, that time wasn’t far off, just a month away.

"But Smar, about charging for Mosaic..."

"I have a proposal." Smar raised his finger to interrupt him, "A proposal concerning your employment."

Anderson was taken aback, graduation season was looming, and a job was something everyone had to contend with.

Only then did he realize that he was still just a temporary worker at the NCSA.

Smar was pleased with Anderson’s reaction, see, a job is the lifeline of an adult.

"After graduation, you can stay and work at the NCSA, and you’ll get a formal contract.

I’ll offer you an annual salary of 50,000 US Dollars, but on the condition that the subsequent development of Mosaic is handed over to another team."

An annual salary of 50,000 US Dollars was a high pay for a recent graduate.

Certainly much higher than Anderson’s current hourly wage of 6.85 US Dollars.

Of course, as a consequence, Anderson and his team would have to leave the Mosaic project, which would be entirely under Smar’s control.

Faced with Smar’s terms, the stubborn Anderson shook his head straightforwardly.

"Smar, I won’t stay at the NCSA."

"That’s a shame." Smar looked away disappointedly.

Just as he had learned, this young man was unfettered, ambitious, and stubbornly willful.

Smar knew there was no point in discussing any further, Anderson had already made his choice.

However, just before he left, Smar turned back to emphasize.

"Remember what I just said, your team no longer has the right to review the users’ replies."

Anderson grew even angrier, not only had they taken away their achievements, but also cut him off from the only remaining contact with the users.

"Mark, what did you talk about with Smar just now?" Dean, the number two person in the team, quietly walked in.

They had all left the office under the implicit indication of Smar’s eyes.

Seeing that both of them looked upset, Dean was curious yet somewhat worried.

The NCSA’s increasing attention to Mosaic and Smar’s frequent interference with the team was not lost on him.

"Smar is planning to charge for Mosaic!" Anderson, with his big mouth, had no sense of keeping it a secret.

"What?!" Dean was shocked, "He can’t do that, it will lead to a lot of complaints against Mosaic.

And Explorer is free too, doesn’t Smar know that?"

"Maybe the greedy Smar can’t wait a moment longer?" Anderson shrugged indifferently.

"Crap! All things are messed up when they get to the big shots."

Dean stormed off, wanting to discuss this matter with the team.

And so, as the news spread rapidly, it didn’t take long for word to get out that Mosaic was about to start charging.

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