Gawker: valleywag, jamie zawinski

Browser coder Jamie Zawinski is no longer Internet famous

Owen Thomas — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:20:00 EDT

The media frenzy earlier this week over Google's Chrome Web browser was so over the top that I wondered: How far did reporters go questing for commentary, for insight, for historical context? How many of them chased down Jamie Zawinski, the Netscape engineer turned beer-peddling South-of-Market nightclub owner, who played a critical role in making the Netscape browser open source — a move which, years later, made Google's browser possible? So I IM'd him: "What is the absolute worst media inquiry you've gotten about Google Chrome this week?"

"I have gotten none until now," he replied. "Which makes this one the worst by default."

The press corps may have forgotten Zawinski, but fans of his screensaver for Linux and Unix systems, XScreenSaver, haven't. One suggested that Google use Zawinski's Pipes screensaver for Chrome's "about:internets" Easter egg, which displays a series of tubes. If you don't get the joke, you probably don't remember who Jamie Zawinski is, either.

Mozilla's 10th anniversary made Valleywag feel old

Jackson West — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:20:00 EDT

Mozilla's 10th anniversary party at 111 Minna last night felt a little like a high school reunion for the kids who didn't go to their high school reunion. The Mozilla Foundation, maker of the Firefox browser, feigned poverty by renting just half the gallery space and serving up crudités and issuing one drink ticket per guest, only later splurging by opening up the bar. There was some awkward dancing to Soft Cell's "Tainted Love," old jean jackets embroidered with the Netscape logo, a gargantuan chocolate cake and a photo booth. Many of the oldsters who were around when CSS was just a dream and Ajax was still used to scrub toilets also traded reminiscences of Burning Man, tech society's annual prom. Mozilla Foundation chair Mitchell Baker earned part of her $500,000 salary by giving a brief speech. And sign-toter Frank Chu showed up, uninvited but always welcome. But the talk of the party was the man who wasn't there.

That was Jamie Zawinski, the Netscape engineer who helped "free the lizard" by open-sourcing Mozilla, even though he apparently offered up his SoMa nightclub, DNA Lounge, for the event. Zawinski did, however, build a time capsule of the early Web — including early iterations of the Mosaic browser and website — for those of you who couldn't make the party but would like to wallow in the nostalgia. Who did show up? Dozens who RSVP'd after Valleywag's calendar listing yesterday, forcing Mozilla to open up the bar when the drink tickets ran out. Photos, including our own Owen Thomas making nice with Anglosexual Flickr engineer Cal Henderson, by Randal Alan Smith.

Event overload

Megan McCarthy — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:59:31 EDT

Tonight's a big one on the social scene — and Web 2.0 Summit hasn't even opened yet. Have a hearty meal and drink lots of water beforehand. You'll need to fortify your defenses to get through the night. Oh, and practice your French, too. Mais oui!

The French Embassy is having a soirée at 5:30 at Mighty in Potrero Hill. [Facebook]
The Wall Street Journal's Don Clark leads the Third Annual Tech Industry Charity Jam at 7 p.m. at the Rickshaw Stop. [Jam Party Invite (pdf)]
The DNA Lounge, owned by early Netscape employee turned nightclub promoter Jamie Zawinski, hosts Ignite SF, a networking event with presenters ranging from Charles River Ventures VC Susan Wu to San Francisco mayoral candidate Chicken John. [Upcoming]
Conde Nast's news-aggregator site Reddit is hosting an open bar at the Gallery Lounge from 7-9 p.m. [Reddit Blog]
We hear that VCs Eric Chin and Mike Jung are throwing an intimate get-together at Fluid, 2 South Park Street in SoMa, to bring together all of the guests from their monthly Alpha dinners in Woodside.

Got a to-do that's a must-do? Send it to calendar@valleywag.com. Check out more events on our Google Calendar: