Farewell Netscape Navigator
p2pnet news | Freedom:- We remember Netscape Navigator fondly.
Back in the mid-1990s, it was where it was at when it came to browsers and everyone used it —- until it was swallowed whole by the rapacious AOL, beginning its long, painful slide into obscurity.
And now the final death-knell is sounding.
As of tomorrow (March 1) it’ll no longer be supported by AOL.
"The company recommends that users upgrade their browser to either Firefox or Flock, which are both built on the same underlying technologies as Navigator," says the BBC.
Says The Independent’s IndyBlogs:
"The Netscape project was originally launched by Marc Andreessen, the leader of the team that produced NCSA Mosaic, the first popular internet browser – and thus carried huge promise. The browser was launched in 1994, and for the comparatively few people who were stumbling their way around the internet at the time it quickly become the automatic choice. These were the days when software downloads were unthinkable over our 28.8k modems; Netscape found its way into our homes through cover mounted CDs on computer magazines, and we took to it like a duck to water.
"But Microsoft were busy at work on a rival, Internet Explorer, and by bundling the software with the Windows operating system they ensured that it pulled well ahead of Netscape. By 1998, delays in the launch of version 6 of Netscape (which was by this point owned by AOL) threatened its position, and when it emerged as a flawed, buggy piece of software its obituaries were already being written. In many ways, it’s surprising that the browser has lasted as long as it has; indeed, much of the reaction to the recent news has been amazement that it still exists. It’s perfectly possible that the current version of Netscape (version 9) is a fantastic piece of software engineering, but with Firefox and Internet Explorer battling for users and Safari and Opera mopping up the rest, Netscape was never going to get a look in."
Also See:
BBC – Final goodbye for early web icon, February 29, 2008
IndyBlogs – Cyberclinic: The Death Of Netscape, February 28, 2008
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February 29th, 2008 at 9:37 am
its sad really i do use netscape 9, but firefox’s extensons just made me pick it. It sad whenever an icon dies
February 29th, 2008 at 10:39 am
It is bad, but could people quit blaming MS Bundling IE with Windows.
I use Netscape 9 even as I type. For me to get it I had to use IE and goto netscape.com and download it.
Now if IE wasn’t bundled with Windows I would be searching magazine racks to find a copy (just like the old days) or I would have to find a retail copy.
I think what killed Netscape was the lack of Marketing and AOL.
Firefox also is a major player in this as many people switched from Netscape to Firefox.
Another issue I have noticed more of recently is many major plugin’s like Flash require downloading and installing where as IE can do it all most on the fly with little work.
At any rate Netscape is dead and I’m not a fan of Firefox, so Opera it is for me from now on.
This will be my last post using Netscape
February 29th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Netscape, (the) *true* Netscape, has been gone for years. Version 4.8[0] was the last before the Grand-old browser was taken-over/subsumed by avaricious corporations.
Nevertheless, that-which-was Netscape shall be *sorely* missed.
*sniff…..