Netscape browser to be discontinued

[Larwee]

The Netscape browser is about to be discontinued and I hate to see it happen because Netscape seems like a friend to me since I've used it for so long although it isn't my primary browser now.

I remember when the Mosaic browser became available in 1993. It was a revolution that made a big change from the way things were being done at the time. Those of you who weren't online prior to browsers can't imagine what a revolution it was.

I've been a browser fanatic since my first experience with Mosaic. As a result I've used almost every browser that has ever been available. There have been a lot more of them than you might think.

Mosaic Communications Corporation soon became Netscape Communications Corporation. Netscape Navigator was released in 1994.

It should be mentioned that there were other browsers around such as Midas, Cello, Erwise and Viola. But that is another story.

CompuServe, Prodigy and America Online were the big online services then. Mosaic caused people to start being less interested in those services.

There was a time when Netscape was the dominating browser but things started to change when Internet Explorer came around and Microsoft started to bundle it with their operating system.

Netscape 9 became available recently, but that is going to be the end of the line. AOL has announced that they are going to end support for Netscape on February 1, 2008. After then AOL will not have any development or provide active support for any Netscape version.

There are a lot of interesting details involving this. I have linked to the announcement from Netscape as well as an article about it as the Netscape browser makes its way into becoming a part of history.

End of Support for Netscape web browsers - The Netscape Blog

PC World - AOL to End Support for Netscape Browser

[kbldshmn]

AFter reading this post, at first, I thought that consumers get hurt whenever a competitor drops out of a field. But I soon realized that this competitor is AOL. They haven't been a strong competitor in a long time.

I'm sure that somewhere down the line, Internet browsing will take a form vastly different from what we're used to. For example, the iPhone and other handhelds are likely not gonna be supported by IE and even Firefox. The makers of these products have a lot of control on how the products will be connected. And handhelds are the next evolution of the Internet (iPhone, PSP, etc.)

Maybe what we're seeing is one of the big signs of things to come. Some markets such as PC Internet browsing are just not worth it to enter or fight for at this time.

[Larwee]

The Netscape browser is a type of sentimental thing to a lot of people with those people being people who used it in its early days and watched as new improvements were made.

Netscape hasn't been much of a factor in the world of browsers for the past several years. But a lot of people who haven't used it in years feel a kind of a loss simply for sentimental reasons. It is an old friend. They don't get together much any longer, but they just hate to see it go.

It started with some college students. Then Netscape became a commercial success and had a lot to do with the dotcom boom of the mid 1990's. Then in 1998, AOL bought Netscape Communications for 4.2 billion dollars.

The netscape.com site will continue as an advertising supported portal. But the Netscape browser will soon be no more.

In a way the Netscape browser will continue to live in the form of Firefox. Netscape had started converting their Communicator suite into open source under the name of Mozilla when they were purchased by AOL. Netscape browsers then became Mozilla based.

Eventually Mozilla became an independent foundation but AOL provided a lot of financial support to the foundation. As most people know, Firefox was developed by Mozilla.

There will be a lot of people who won't miss the Netscape browser because they didn't even know it was around.

The end of the Netscape browser doesn't come as much of a surprise and isn't going to change anything. It is probably more like the passing of an old friend to some people who have known about it for a long time.

[frugalwench]

Well, you know what people say...AOL stands for "Antichrist Online". I think AOL is an evil entity. It just keeps trying to make itself bigger, and squealch anything that stands in its way. Hopefully, something will happen to make it disappear entirely. It's like the Wal-Mart of online services, and you can see the problems Wal-Mart is having now.

Ever since AOL started offering free email, and Yahoo started cracking down on spammers using its email, AOL is the preferred email addy for trolls now.

But then, Firefox is as close to Netscape as you can get, and it's the browser of choice now, so we aren't really losing it. Mozilla is trying to keep at least some of Netscape alive by buying the Composer and making it into Nvu and Kompozer. I remember that the Netscape Composer was the first webpage builder I used. I loved it, and was so sad when it was gone.

Netscape was a great company. Too bad AOL is in control of it now.