AOL Pulls Plug on Netscape Web Browser

[malware]

Netscape Navigator, the world's first commercial Web browser once used in 80 percent of all Internet sessions, will be pulled off life support Feb. 1 after a 13-year run. Its current caretakers, Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, decided to kill further development and technical support to focus on growing the company as an advertising business. America Online Inc. paid $9.8 billion in 1999 for Netscape and after almost nine-years of efforts to revive Netscape, the browser will be killed once and for all.

While internal groups within AOL have invested a great deal of time and energy in attempting to revive Netscape Navigator, these efforts have not been successful in gaining market share from Microsoft's Internet Explorer,

Netscape Director Tom Drapeau wrote in a blog entry Friday. People will still be able to download and use the Netscape browser indefinitely, but AOL will stop releasing security and other updates on Feb. 1. Drapeau recommended that Netscape users should shift to Firefox instead. A separate Netscape Web portal will continue to operate.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Triprift]

Wow i didnt even no it was still going how about that you learn something new everyday.

 

[Kursah]

Wow, kind of a bummer to see such an old browser that I used to browse with so frequently be deceased. Man I can remember the days of the original Netscape...kinda fuzzy, and buggy...yet better than IE back then. Don't know what happened, well, aside from AOL...which I've never been a fan of (plenty of experience for my opinions though!).

Well, RIP Netscape...hello Opera!

 

[ShadowFold]

Wow I thought it was dead lol

IE7 totally pwns it anyway

 

[Triprift]

yeah ie7 is good (puts on mega flaming resistant suit) but firefox is a worthy rival.

 

[btarunr]

Want a feel of the classic Netscape browser? Download Mozilla Seamonkey....more features than Firefox. Hey that's from Mozilla too.

Netscape went downhill since 1998 when it opened its code and the NPL. At least thanks to that we're able to use a browser that's (finally) superior to the IE (Firefox).

The latest Netscape browser ironically is based on the Firefox....it's basically a skinned (themed) Firefox with a bunch of anti-spy anti-phishing bit thrown in.

 

[Assimilator]

No, the reason Netscape went to hell was because AOL bought it, then proceeded to run it into the ground.

I fear that Winamp, now also owned by AOL, will eventually fall prey to the same fate.

 

[btarunr]

The decline of NS started right back then, AOL was just the deathblow to it all.

Yupp.

There's going to be a new demo.mp3 soon

"AOL! It really whips the Winamp's a** "

All in all AOL's bad company policies and lack of concrete future plans cost a lot of small-software companies which it acquired dear. Nullsoft is putting no real effort either. Their implementation of Bento was good but not great. How much of AOL do we see in Winamp anyway?

 

[1c3d0g]

Good riddance! Don't get me wrong, I loved Netscape...10 years ago. Now we have Firefox which is a superior browser anyway, so making a derivative program based on it only confuses people.