End of Support For Netscape-AOL to Discontinue Netscape Browser

End of Support for Netscape Navigator

A Moment of Silence.

Netscape Navigator, the iconic browser which brought the web to the majority of Internet users, will not be updated anymore. Ah, Netscape, you were my guide when I first set out to explore this brave new world of the Internet. Its introduction as an easy-to-use way to navigate ushered in the new era of the age of commercial Internet, and the white N rising above the Earth became so familiar.

When it first launched in 1994, Netscape was designed to be user-friendly and became the most used Internet browser through the 90s. When Microsoft wanted a share of the popularity, they licensed the source code from Netscape’s developer and created Internet Explorer. Netscape continued to rise in popularity until Microsoft began offering Internet Explorer free with Windows 95 and later versions. Users switched wholesale, and Netscape’s profits and popularity continued to dwindle. It fared no better when it was bought by AOL in 1999.

AOL recently announced it would no longer issue updates for Netscape as of February 1, 2008, effectively killing the once-great browser. But, in an ironic twist, Netscape’s original developers created a new, better, more flexible browser the world knows today as Mozilla Firefox. Like the ashes from the phoenix, Firefox is now my browser of choice, and the one which makes my work easier thanks to its open source code and customizability. Kinda poetic isn’t it?

Read Netscape’s official announcement.

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