Netscape: How The Mighty Have Fallen
When I bought my first notebook computer in 1995, an unwieldy Compac that weighed a ton, had limited memory and the speed of a tortoise, it was pre-loaded with Windows 95 and Netscape Navigator 2.0, the inaugural version of what would quickly become the first widely used Web browser.
Not that I had any choice. The release of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser was still a few months off, and I disdained using it until I bought my second notebook, an IBM ThinkPad, a couple of years later.
I made the leap because Netcape was already falling behind and IE was improving by leaps and bounds as Web browsing became more sophisticated.
That Netscape continued to lag and never got its mojo back is a cautionary tale that bigger isn’t necessarily better.
Bigger in this instance was the purchase of Netscape by America Online in 1999, which blew a golden opportunity to put the big bucks and imagination into the browser that would keep it competitive with IE.
So it comes as no surprise that AOL has decided that it will discontinue development and active support for the Netscape browser on February 1. The Netscape.com Web site will soldier on as a general-purpose portal.
Meanwhile, the folks at Microsoft did not lack for money or imagination with each new IE upgrade, but I’ve been using Mozilla’s Firefox since shortly after its initial release in November 2004 because I like its ease of use.
A lot of people agree: Firefox has captured a healthy 16 percent of the browser market, while Netscape has barely one half of 1 percent.
More here.
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5 Responses to “Netscape: How The Mighty Have Fallen”
Firefox is open source and free, Netscape/AOL can’t compete with open source and the malevolent giant IE/MS.
If Netscape had offered a better product, they wouldn’t have been crushed quite so badly, even if Microsoft’s size made their downfall inevitable.
It seems to me that they used the antitrust lawsuits as a crutch and lost sight of actually improving their product.
However, as a web developer, I will say that the worst nightmares of a Microsoft monopoly have occured. Development on IE stalled when there was no competition. It’s a terrible platform to program for compared to Firefox or Opera.
Cmon Chris whats wrong with being held hostage to Visual Studio.Net? What does that piece of cr## cost today with all the bells and whistles?
From their own webpage it’s not very clear how much it costs. That’s never a good sign.
Ah, the software wars. Personally I haven’t seen an open source IDE that comes close to Visual Studio. Borland is trying to resurrect themselves and I really, really wish them well but I already had gotten a good deal on a copy of VS from eBay before their “return”. And…you’ve got to give Microsoft props for the Express line of products. Impute whatever motive you want to them, they still made a basic version of each of their .Net tools available for free download. Personally I try not to invest too much emotion in loyalty to or hatred for any software company. Though I have to admit a certain glee about the results of the whole SCO debacle.