Michael Bierman of Adobe has responded on the SVG developers list to user questions about whether their SVG viewer will support either Linux or Netscape 6.

On Linux, Bierman writes that although Adobe have a policy of "not discussing unannounced products" he could say that Adobe "evaluate support for additional platforms based mostly on the numbers of seats they represent." Clearly if Linux users want Adobe to support them, now is the time to lobby.

Even less encouraging for Linux/open source users, however, was the position on Netscape 6:

Currently, the Adobe SVG Viewer does not work with Netscape 6. This is because Netscape 6 has not succeeded in maintaining compatibility with their 4.x plug-in API ... We will continue to work with Netscape to communicate the importance of these issues for customers using Netscape Navigator version 6. We encourage users with similar concerns to express them to Netscape as well.

The message is that users must lobby if they want support for Netscape 6 or Linux. Meanwhile, there are other projects focusing on implementing SVG in Mozilla, but these are not as advanced as the Adobe viewer.

(Bierman's message is available from the eGroups archives of the SVG Developers list, but you must be a member of the list to view the archives.)