AfterDawn: News

AOL to kill off Netscape browser

AOL has announced that it will be effectively killing off the historic Netscape browser in February by discontinuing development and active support.

The company will continue to deliver updates and security patches up until February 1st, 2008 after which all active support will be cut off. The announcement comes via the official Netscape Blog and Tom Drapeau, lead developer for Netscape.com.



"AOL's focus on transitioning to an ad-supported Web business leaves little room for the size of investment needed to get the Netscape browser to a point many of its fans expect it to be," Drapeau wrote. "Given AOL's current business focus... we feel it's the right time to end development of Netscape branded browsers, hand the reins fully to Mozilla and encourage Netscape users to adopt Firefox," Drapeau added.

As of December 2007, Netscape only held a 0.6 percent of the browser market, far behind Internet Explorer at 77 percent and Firefox with 16 percent.

Source:
Yahoo

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 28 Dec 2007 18:48

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• 11 comments

• domie

  Quote:As of December 2007, Netscape only held a 0.6 percent of the browser market, far behind Internet Explorer at 77 percent and Firefox with 16 percent. absolute crap tends to gain those types of shares in consumer markets these days.

  29.12.2007 16:59 #1

• sssharp

  IE has such a large share because it is installed on new owner pc's. When Firefox was intro'd to me years ago IE's use is limited to xp help issues only. AOL should close its doors or merge with someone else due to customers non use of the dial up connections.

  29.12.2007 18:31 #2

• borhan9

  I am sorry to hear this. The fact is that it is the end of an era with netscape closing because that was the pioneer browser that competed with Microsofts Internet Explorer.
  
  Quote:Lest We Forget :)I am glad they are supporting Mozilla and their products.

  29.12.2007 19:21 #3

• red2tango

  mozilla ftw

  30.12.2007 16:52 #4

• Jimg1220

  Quote:I am sorry to hear this. The fact is that it is the end of an era with netscape closing because that was the pioneer browser that competed with Microsofts Internet Explorer.
  
  Quote:Lest We Forget :)I am glad they are supporting Mozilla and their products.I like Netscape just for the fact that the email is built in, unlike IE.

  30.12.2007 19:19 #5

• ddilbert

  i use opera and i prefer it over firefox

  30.12.2007 20:23 #6

• hermes_vb

  That's another dying browser by the way...

  31.12.2007 00:36 #7

• Mez

  borhan9,
  
  For a long time it was IE that was in competition with Netscape. They won that war by cheating but they still won. Now they probably could not get away with that kind of Tom foolery but they have market share and it will be a long time before some one takes that away from them.

  31.12.2007 11:13 #8

• gallagher

  Originally posted by Mez: For a long time it was IE that was in competition with Netscape. They won that war by cheating but they still won.Uhhh . . . how did they cheat? Oh, do you mean they gave it away for free? Or do you mean they developed their browser to be interoperable with the operating system? I guess Microsoft must be evil for offering a free media player as well.
  
  I always used Netscape and hated IE when it came out. But guess what? I adapted because Netscape soon sucked and IE was better. I used to love ICQ, then it sucked. What do Netscape and ICQ share in common? They were both infected by the AOL virus.
  
  I applaud Microsoft for stepping in when companies like AOL screwed over the Internet. Is Microsoft perfect? Of course not. I prefer Firefox now to the four other browsers. But Microsoft has made some nice products, especially free ones. When ICQ went down the drain, I started using Yahoo Messenger. Now that sucks. I see Microsoft's Live Messenger as a great resource in comparison.

  1.1.2008 03:53 #9

• Mez

  Quote:. . . how did they cheat? Oh, do you mean they gave it away for free? Or do you mean they developed their browser to be interoperable with the operating system? I guess Microsoft must be evil for offering a free media player as well.
  Yes, that is part of it. The real cheating part which I can only guess is Microsoft altered their operating system to NOT work with Netscape. It was proven years ago that MS always developes a set of duplicate functions created by competing teams. The most inferior functions get thrown out. The third best is offered in the developer's pack to be used by the outside world. The two most stable are kept private for MS use only. The MS products always run better on the MS operating system by design. Courts have desided that was cheating not me! I am convinced they have robbed us of of the diversity of the DOS age when MS used the same functions everyone else used. There was heavy competition and it was a time of innovation. That time has long passed.
  
  I am not defending AOL they are total jerks but attacking MS who are jerks in a totally different way. AOL couldn't see the writting on the wall and stayed the course to oblivion. I am amazed they are still in business. MS read the writting too well and looked like saviors until you discover they were the ones that created the problems in the first place. It is far easier to find a solution to a problem you created and engineered so that you could solve it.

  2.1.2008 07:58 #10

• Legir

  I still use netscape and this is a surprise. I guess I'll just use Firefox more now.

  3.1.2008 11:22 #11