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16th July 2003

NETSCAPE HAS REACHED THE END OF THE ROAD

Brian Grainger


 

It would seem that Microsoft Internet Explorer has finally killed off Netscape and won the browser wars. AOL has announced that most of the staff working on Netscape have been made redundant.

At one time Netscape Navigator was the premier browser on the PC. Then Microsoft introduced Internet Explorer at no charge. Netscape eventually had to remove the charge for stand alone copies. IE took more and more market share and Netscape foundered.

Eventually Netscape was sold to AOL, who by that time had licensed IE for their Internet service. They threatened to replace IE with Netscape after the agreement with Microsoft ran out. However, in reality, the agreement was renewed. I guess that was when the writing was on the wall for Netscape. AOL's recent decision just confirms it.

This news probably makes Opera as the number 2 of browsers that are still being developed. With IE no longer being available as a separate product after the current version - you will have to buy the latest Windows to get it - it is time to start looking at Opera!

12th August 2003

Russell Jones wrote to say:
At http://www.mozilla.org is the browser that Netscape 6, 7 and 7.1 are all based on. There's a new version called Mozilla Firebird in progress, so called because it is re-inventing the browser in a slimmer, faster loading form. Take a look.


 

 

 

 


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