Subtitled "A Year in the Life of a Silicon Valley Supernova," this production by San Jose public television for PBS is a fascinating, knuckle-biting view of Netscape's struggles to release a free version of the source code for its web browser to the software developer community. The open source project (called "mozilla") was part of a strategy to battle Microsoft's strong (and according to some, including the Department of Justice, coercive) entry into the browser market. As documented by a camera crew present at many points in the year-long process, the group working to release mozilla by the deadline is filled with coders of all stripes: seasoned pros, true believers, open-source zealots, computer anarchists, and suits, all tracking bugs and cranking millions of lines of code. The video depicts an unmistakable geek esprit de corps as the "worker ants," powered by caffeine and pizza, work non-stop in a scene that is equal parts frenzy and fatigued stupor. More than just a record of events, this excellent documentary offers an unflinching cautionary tale about the toll levied on people caught up in the rapid change of pace and uncertain future of software ventures on the web. What makes this story all the more compelling is that right now a thousand other companies are betting the farm on similar go for broke strategies that might only let them tread water for a few extra microseconds. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: H, C, P. (C. Block)
Code Rush
(2000) 60 min. $19.98 ($49.95 w/PPR). PBS Video. Color cover. Closed captioned. ISBN: 0-7806-3111-0. Vol. 15, Issue 6
Code Rush
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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