Technofart

Oh Netscape, if only you had properly continued the development of the Netscape Navigator browser, there’s a good chance that you would’ve won the browser war with Microsoft and we wouldn’t have the stinking pile of insecure bloated shit that is Internet Explorer. Originally, Netscape Navigator was the best (and original mass market browser) browser you could get up until Microsoft released IE4 in 1997 (there are still some people using IE4, quite a good number actually, how fucked up is that?!), which was easier to use and had more features than the Netscape browser. Instead of fighting back, Netscape bumbled around for a couple of years and when the next version was finally released (Netscape 6), it was a sluggish mess. Shame.

AOL officially ended support for the Netscape browser on February 1st, 2008. From an entry on the offical Netscape blog:

“AOL’s focus on transitioning to an ad-supported Web business leaves little room for the size of investment needed to get the Netscape browser to a point many of its fans expect it to be,” Drapeau wrote. “Given AOL’s current business focus … we feel it’s the right time to end development of Netscape branded browsers, hand the reins fully to Mozilla, and encourage Netscape users to adopt Firefox,” Drapeau wrote.

The Mosaic Netscape browser was originally put up for people to download in 1994 by Mosaic Communications, who later changed their name to Netscape Communications. That company started the dot-com boom with its very successful IPO (initial public offering) in August of 1995 and was bought by AOL in 1999.