Project Code Rush

We all know (or should know) about the bubble that burst and changed our economy in the early days of our internet society. It marked the rise and fall of hundreds of internet companies and the end of what we believed to be a new, shiny internet-based economy.

Possibly the hardest hit was Netscape, the maker of the world's first graphically-based browser. They rode the wave of the early internet and came hurtling to Earth under the powerful foot of Microsoft and Internet Explorer. This period in internet history is commonly referred to as the browser wars.

So, why the history lesson? We came across this amazing documentary that looks at that period of time. The folks at Netscape knew their days were numbered, and as a last ditch effort they threw everything they had into another little side project in a final attempt to save Netscape. So, what was the project? They released all of their browser source code for free under the code name, Mozilla. Unfortunately, Mozilla was not able to save the company, but over time, their efforts paved the way for Firefox to become one of the largest browsers on the market and a leader in the open source community.

The documentary was produced by PBS and originally aired in 2000.