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People have been writing with joy to tell me that Netscape has announced a plan to make its browser free software, under the GNU GPL. That is getting a bit ahead of events. The announcement Netscape made does not actually say that they will use the GNU GPL, and does not assert that the program will be free software as we define it. It's clear that Netscape will take a big step in the direction of free software, but we don't know whether they will get all the way there or fall substantially short. It seems that even Netscape doesn't know yet, because they are still deciding what to do. We shouldn't start rejoicing, or criticizing, prematurely. Let's see what actually happens, and then we'll know whether to celebrate. Two crucial questions are whether people will be free to distribute copies for a fee (on free software CD-ROM collections, for example) and whether people will be free to redistribute modified versions just like the original version. If Netscape does make the browser free software, that will be a great day for the free software movement.