Re: [amsat-bb] Netscape 4.79 Unblocked

[Emily Clarke <w0eec@xxxxxxxxx>]

At 03:22 PM 7/2/2004 -0700, laura halliday wrote:
>The over-riding principle in all of this must remain, though,
>why we put this information on the web in the first place.
>Because we want it *read*. Any requirement above plain
>vanilla brain-damaged least-common-denominator html
>must be looked at very carefully.

If the overriding principle was to put out electronic ink, we would have 
simply made one giant blog and turned access over to anyone on the 
BB.  That wasn't the goal here nor would I have participated if it had been.

The overriding principle(s) that drove the re-design of the web site 
include reliability, being pertinent, staying current, being navigable, 
being understandable and being easily maintainable.  We aren't there 100% 
yet, but we are much closer than people would probably imagine.

While we will always strive to provide a continuous stream of information, 
we feel under no obligation to spend endless hours in the future catering 
to people who, for no other reason than pure stubbornness, refuse to step 
out of the stone age.  The change in priority to support Netscape 4.7x was 
not because of the uproar on the BB, but rather because there were a number 
of situations brought to our attention, primarily military and other 
government users, who were affected by the outage.  Our intention to 
support Netscape 4.79 was always in the plan but for the reasons stated we 
changed our priorities and have provided a timely solution.  While we are 
open to Netscape 4.79 browsers, we still urge users to upgrade.  Netscape 
4.7x was a fine browser in it's time, but that time has long since passed.

In the future we reserve the right to set priorities within the project 
team based on benefit to the 99.8% of the user base that makes an effort to 
stay current with the technology, without consulting the .2% of people who 
are opposed to progress. It is the same decision process that put 9600+ 
baud modems on Echo, not 1200 baud modems. It is the same decision process 
that will put C-Band transponders on Eagle while leaving tin can and string 
solutions on the ground where they belong.

>With that said, the new Amsat web site looks good. I've
>seen some disastrous web pages, but this isn't one of them.
>Well done!

Thanks!  We will continue to improve the site over time, and hope that the 
results are worthy of the kind of praise we have received from the vast 
majority of the membership.

73

Emily



"Libraries keep records on behalf of all humanity - the unique and the 
absurd, the wise and [the] fragments of stupidity."
-- Vartan Gregorian




---------------------------------
W0EEC - CM87tm
AMSAT Area Coordinator - San Francisco Bay Area
http://www.projectoscar.net    http://www.PlanetEmily.com 
http://www.experthams.net/ao7

Help Launch Echo - http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/echo/index.html
---------------------------------  

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