Lou Montulli, mine is bigger, mitchell baker, mozilla foundation, netscape

Early Netscape engineer admits to owning the Mozilla M5

Yesterday we speculated that a BMW M5 with a "Mozilla" vanity plate might belong to Mozilla Foundation chair Mitchell Baker, who could afford the $80,000 car with her $500,000-a-year salary. We were wrong. "I will admit to it being mine," Lou Montulli, one of Netscape's founding engineers, commented on the post. On his personal site, Montulli admits to more.

I'm largely to blame for several innovations on the web including, cookies, the blink tag, server push and client pull, HTTP proxying, proxy authentication, HTTP byte ranges, HTTPS over SSL, and encouraging the implementation of animated GIFS into the browser.

Nice little CV, but other commenters still want to know why Montulli went for an 500-horse BMW M5 instead of a Porsche. Montulli says its because the M5 is a family car. "The key feature of the M5 is the fact that it has 4 doors and seats 4 comfortably. If you look closely at the picture you may be able to see the kids car seats." So you're a family man, Lou. Fine. That excuse works around here. Just don't try it on Calacanis.

3:40 PM on Tue Mar 25 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
2,561 views
16 comments

Comments

Lawrence at 04:18 PM on 03/25/08
Reply by Email
*

i knew it, it wasn't a chick's car.
Women don't do Custom plates, that's not their thing.

lol - only guys have big enough egos to get custom plates.

but since that M5 is a familiar car, it sure as hell beats the minivan and SUV alternatives
Tiltawhorl at 04:19 PM on 03/25/08
Reply by Email
*

You guys just suck. You can buy this car used in the high 50's to high 60's. Anybody could buy this car. Go to autotrader.com and do a little research.

This isn't a story, it's just you wasting our time as much as Calacanis.
deathbychichi at 04:35 PM on 03/25/08
Reply by Email
*

Wow, see kids? Totally uninformed speculation works! All you had to do was, yesterday, publish on the barest thread of a tenuous, nonexistent connection between an M5 with a MOZILLA vanity plate and all the money the Mozilla Foundation chair makes and today you get whole 'nother article and 191 views and climbing. It's little wonder New Media has Old Media quaking in their Eccos. Cha-ching!
Adam Rock at 04:41 PM on 03/25/08
Reply by Email
*

[photocontest.shutterfly.com]
Adam Rock at 04:42 PM on 03/25/08
Reply by Email
*

Haha:
[www.nndb.com]
QADude at 04:55 PM on 03/25/08
Reply by Email
*

Nice hair - Tesla Coil Hairdo??
Whocares at 05:04 PM on 03/25/08
Reply by Email
*

@Tiltawhorl: Only people who are spending outside their comfort zone buy $80,000-$100,000 new price tag vehicles used.

On a side note, one webtard suggested he should have got a Porsche.. anyone who can't figure out the difference between a 4 door 500hp monster luxury sedan and a two seater go-kart shouldn't be providing auto-buying insight.
Whocares at 05:05 PM on 03/25/08
Reply by Email
*

PS: Remind me to punch this dude if I ever see him.. the animated gifs and blink tags.. just awful.
joebob2 at 05:39 PM on 03/25/08
Reply by Email
*

Only people compensating for something buy cars that depreciate quickly new.
OaklandTechie at 05:41 PM on 03/25/08
Reply by Email
*

Hey, he invited Lynx! That's pretty f'ing cool (no sarcasm). How many of you kids have used Lynx? Yeah, I thought so.

</end deluded coolness rant>
raincoaster at 09:08 PM on 03/25/08
Reply by Email
*
Connectedness Index: 337
Brought to you by Acura TSX

The blink tag? SOMEBODY KEY THAT THING!
Papa Midnight at 05:03 AM on 03/26/08
Reply by Email
*

@lawrence: Like hell they don't.
DeanMartin at 07:17 AM on 03/26/08
Reply by Email
*

M5 is the ultimate tasteful sleeper. Porsche screams "I am making up for something". M5 says "I like great engineering and fast speeds but I don't care if you notice". I know this is difficult for valleywag to comprehend.

That said, the new BMWs are hideously ugly.
Moonshine Mike at 08:04 AM on 03/26/08
Reply by Email
*

@Zoo: I love the blink tag just because it pisses off folks like you.

@DeanMartin: yes, the M5 is a nice ride.

@lawrence: I dated a woman with a vanity plate. It was all about her when it was all said and done.
BartKela at 09:32 AM on 03/26/08
Reply by Email
*

You can disable the blink tag in your config file. This has been possible for at least ten years (Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox), probably six months after the blink tag was implemented. :)
Slartey at 12:13 PM on 03/27/08
Reply by Email
*

M5s and Porsches (apart from the Boxster which is a wannabe Barbie-mobile) are a complete waste of time in the US. The highway speeds here are so low that any speed-activated surfaces (like spoilers) are configured to trigger at shopping mall cruising speeds, and any attempt to drive quickly is a furtive exercise for a few seconds that drivers of such cars boast about for months (go to Germany where everyone drives any car at over 100 mph everyday and thinks nothing of it). And lease costs are so low these days that there's no cache in any of these so-called luxury marques anymore. For that, you have to go Ferrari, Bentley, Maserati or Aston Martin (anything else is just a mass-produced commodity or too exotic to be practical). As for the vanity plate, you just have to be first and then it'll only cost $25/year. Woopidydoo... Let's not pander to the marketing of car companies and suggest that driving a particular car implies anything at all about that driver.