Product Details

• Format: NTSC
• Rating: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Pbs (Direct)
• VHS Release Date: April 25, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004T128
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #34,084 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Internet and the use of home computers has become so common, we tend to forget that every function of the machine is the result of much toil over long strings of code. To the uninitiated, this code looks like gibberish, but to the code writers, it's the lifeblood of the computer. Code Rush follows the efforts of Netscape engineers as they struggle to meet a hard-and-fast deadline to get the latest browser on the market and reverse the company's sagging fortunes. Netscape decided to take an enormous risk and open their Mozilla source code to unpaid contributors worldwide so they could accept tweaks and changes from a huge pool of engineers. This documentary goes a long way toward defining the term "geek chic" as the Netscape staff sacrifices family life, social life, and sanity to work around the clock to meet their deadline. A close-knit crew of eccentric but brilliant minds work on the project, picking bugs out of huge morasses of code, struggling to make it all work by the fateful day when the new browser is to be launched. The film follows the company through the fateful day of the AOL-Netscape merger and beyond. Code Rush also does a fair job with the larger picture, examining the exponentially leapfrogging growth of the industry and the ways that the computer and the Internet have changed so many facets of daily life. --Jerry Renshaw

Product Description

Life on the edge in Silicon Valley - home of high tech, high anxiety, and high stakes. Take a revealing look at Netscape Communications engineers as they set out boldly and brazenly to save their company. A virtual panorama of human drama and techno-thrills, Code Rush puts you at the center of the high-intensity clash of science, engineering, and commerce.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Likeable story and subject, August 20, 2001

By	Andrew Newman (Milton, Queensland Australia) - See all my reviews

The bunch of programmers at Netscape actually come through as a nice bunch of people working hard against what seems like a hopeless situation. Gives a good insight to programmers and what drives them to do the things they do.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great documentary, October 18, 2000

By	Jeffrey D. Mason "cecil_b_demason" (Rochester, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I saw this documentary about six months ago and it gave me a whole new understanding of what programmers have to go through. They have to put off their own lives (and their families) to finish their job.

Kudos to the filmamkers

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The life and death of a great company and lessons for all startups., June 5, 2003

By	Charles Ashbacher "([e-mail])" (Marion, Iowa United States([e-mail])) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Code development is a profession where one can work sixty hours a week and be considered a slacker. When the opportunity is there, all other things in your life are lowered to a position of secondary relevance. As technology companies are born, live fast and die, some do survive and make at least some of their employees wealthy. It is this dream of the great golden ring that keeps so many people up late pounding the keys, ingesting bad food and caffeine and sacrificing their personal health and that of their relationships.
This is the story of Netscape, the company that was the first to have an IPO that soared on the first day it was traded, which started the technology IPO frenzy. However, once the Microsoft giant awoke and aggressively pushed its' browser to the world, Netscape's fortunes declined rapidly, to the point where their primary product could not be sold. At that time, the Netscape management made a major decision, to post their source code to the world, in the hope that developers would take it and improve it for free. As a new business model, it was untested and the analysts really did not know how to react to such a move. However, it was clear that it generated very little excitement and you can visibly see how that deflates the Netscape employees.
As a story of a technology business, this tape is a lesson in how things can go very right and then very, very wrong in a very short time. As the major players rush to meet a hard deadline for release, you see what the pressure is like in such situations. Having been there myself, it brought back many memories as it clearly shows how tense it is and what it can do to the rest of your life. In this case, their gamble did not work and ultimately, Netscape was purchased by AOL. Some of the Netscape group left right away, but a few hung on for awhile and then they too walked out the door.
This tape is a microcosm of what it is like in a young technology company and so should be seen by all new developers. Even if you do things right and seem on top of the world, nothing is certain and you must always keep things in perspective and balance. This fundamental fact should be a part of the education of every software developer.

Published in Mathematics and Computer Education, reprinted with permission.