Rappy Veteran Posted December 28, 2007 Veteran Share Posted December 28, 2007 Please observe a moment of silence for the Netscape browser. Netscape Navigator, the browser that launched the commercial Internet in October 1994, will die on February 1, 2008. AOL, which acquired Netscape in November 1998 for $4.2 billion, will announce today that they will discontinue development of the browser, currently on version 9.In an email exchange yesterday with Tom Drapeau, Director of AOL/Netscape development, he said that only a handful of AOL engineers are still tasked with keeping the browser updated. Most of their efforts have been aimed at creating a Netscape-skinned version of Firefox with the Netscape look and feel. The team has been unable to gain any significant market share against Microsoft Internet Explorer. In fact, recent surveys suggest that Netscape currently has only 0.6% market share among browsers, compared to IE?s 77.35% and Firefox?s 16.01%. This, of course, is the same browser that once claimed more than 90 percent of the market, sparking the browser wars of the 1990s and the subsequent Microsoft antitrust trial. Drapeau says AOL?s transition into an ad-supported web business leaves little room for any real effort at maintaining and evolving the Netscape Browser. He also points to the success of the non-profit Mozilla foundation, which spun off of Netscape in February 1998 with $2 million in funding from Netscape and an additional $300,000 from Mitch Kapor. Firefox, which is part of Mozilla, brought in nearly $70 million in 2006 revenues, mostly from a search deal with Google. In a sense, Netscape lives on through the open-source efforts of Mozilla and Firefox. Support for existing versions of Netscape Navigator will cease on February 1, 2008. After that, users can visit the UFAQ and the Netscape Community Forum for support. AOL is also setting up a Netscape Archive where users will be able to download old versions of Netscape, without any support. [Source[/b]ce] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lasker Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 This does not surprise me at all, they should be dead long time ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trek Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 rofl, people use a 'Netscape-skinned' version of FF? That is pretty sad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PL_ Veteran Posted December 28, 2007 Veteran Share Posted December 28, 2007 I remember when it was called Netscape Navigator :laugh: Back then it was strange, as the #1 alternative browser was way more bloated than IE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hell-In-A-Handbasket Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 it was dead years ago,,, their just deciding to take that vegetable off life support Pure Legend: i remember that also, i still called it that,, also remember when it first came out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rappy Veteran Posted December 28, 2007 Author Veteran Share Posted December 28, 2007 I remember the first minute I used the internet I used Netscape 4.0 :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webeagle12 Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Figures, after 4.7 that software went down a hill. I remember everybody hated version 6 RIP Netscape, you done your job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Star Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 I remember 4.0 also, one of the ugliest icons ever. :p But without Netscape we would not have IE7 and FF2.0! R.I.P! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshalus Veteran Posted December 28, 2007 Veteran Share Posted December 28, 2007 It was actually starting to look pretty good recently. I hear it was a little faster then Firefox these days. FX3 is where it's at though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATLien_0 Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 great browser when it was netscape communicator and early navigator, but really lost its edge years ago once IE was bundled with windows. The idea of using a secondary browser didnt really catch on until a few years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ak03 Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 This was bound to come sooner or later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shakey_snake Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Does AOL kill everything they buy? They've dismantled the Nullsoft team when they bought winamp, and now this. What do they gain by doing this? Heck, what products do they even offer anymore? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangbang023 Veteran Posted December 28, 2007 Veteran Share Posted December 28, 2007 Does AOL kill everything they buy? They've dismantled the Nullsoft team when they bought winamp, and now this.What do they gain by doing this? Heck, what products do they even offer anymore? Well, they still offer Winamp, though it's developed in-house, now. Also, there really wasn't a point in keeping Netscape going. They have their AOL browsing solution and Netscape was little more than a skinned Firefox with a few extras thrown in. I can't see it as having been a financially sound decision to continue development of the software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cryton Subscriber² Posted December 28, 2007 Subscriber² Share Posted December 28, 2007 Heck, what products do they even offer anymore? Ad-sponsored spyware? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangbang023 Veteran Posted December 28, 2007 Veteran Share Posted December 28, 2007 Ad-sponsored spyware? Care to show what spyware they offer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGHammer Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Well, they still offer Winamp, though it's developed in-house, now. Also, there really wasn't a point in keeping Netscape going. They have their AOL browsing solution and Netscape was little more than a skinned Firefox with a few extras thrown in. I can't see it as having been a financially sound decision to continue development of the software. With Firefox basically taking up the torch, what's the reason for Netscape itself to remain extant? Lest folks forget, Mozilla (the core of what we know as Firefox) was developed as an open-source browser core. With Netscape itself being basically a skinned Mozilla (and, other than that skin, no differnet from the Foundation-branded Firefox), why would AOL need a ton of engineers to develop a skin for an already-solid extensible browser core (especially since, for some odd reason, nobody else has decided to use the Mozilla core for anything outside of certain Linux-based projects and the Penelope Project (an open-sourced Eudora))? Also, the reason why *Communicator* hung on was because it had features that IE lacked (especially Usenet support); however, the major battle was Navigator 3.x vs. IE 3.x, and Netscape got pummeled badly, especially when Macromedia loudly castigated a then-still-independent Netscape for savaging their own plug-in standard just to roadblock IE (IE 3.x was directly compatible with plug-ins developed for Navigator 2.x, which Navigator 3.x was not). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Sad but time moves on and it has evolved through Firefox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mystic MVC Posted December 28, 2007 MVC Share Posted December 28, 2007 I had no clue Netscape was still around. I always nagged my father to stop using that browser and I eventually won. :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaCrip Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 This does not surprise me at all, they should be dead long time ago exactly ;) ... cause it's pointless to try to make another browser in todays world... cause u already got 3 major ones (IE - Firefox - Opera) and a few side ones already. and besides netscape was good back in the day but now it's just not cutting it since Firefox seems to be the main alternative browser most people use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rappy Veteran Posted December 28, 2007 Author Veteran Share Posted December 28, 2007 Ad-sponsored spyware? I have never seen an AOL product with spyware, yes when you used to install some of the stuff you had loads of processes but thats been taken away now so you have just one process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink Floyd Veteran Posted December 28, 2007 Veteran Share Posted December 28, 2007 ahhh about time! with all the cash spent for nothing :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandor Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 AOL...funny stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0sit0 Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 exactly ;) ... cause it's pointless to try to make another browser in todays world... cause u already got 3 major ones (IE - Firefox - Opera) and a few side ones already.and besides netscape was good back in the day but now it's just not cutting it since Firefox seems to be the main alternative browser most people use. So when you sign in with their software you don't get those annoying offer pop ups anymore? I remember that was so annoying.. paying for Internet access and getting tons of offers as soon as I signed in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangbang023 Veteran Posted December 28, 2007 Veteran Share Posted December 28, 2007 So when you sign in with their software you don't get those annoying offer pop ups anymore? I remember that was so annoying.. paying for Internet access and getting tons of offers as soon as I signed in. I'm not sure if they do or not, but that's still not spyware. That's simply adware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asharae Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 I suppose the closest thing now is SeaMonkey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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