Netscape
Parent AOL | ![]() | |
Website | connect |
---|
Netscape Communications Corporation (originally Mosaic Communications Corporation) was an American independent computer services company with headquarters in
Netscape stock traded from 1995 until 1999 when the company was acquired by
Netscape's browser development continued until December 2007, when AOL announced that the company would stop supporting it by early 2008.[11][12] As of 2011, AOL continued to use the Netscape brand to market a discount Internet service provider.[13][14]
History
Early years
Netscape Communications wants you to forget all the highway metaphors you've ever heard about the Internet. Instead, think about an encyclopedia—one with unlimited, graphically rich pages, connections to E-mail and files, and access to Internet newsgroups and online shopping.
Netscape was the first company to attempt to capitalize on the emerging
The company's first product was the web browser, called Mosaic Netscape 0.9, released on October 13, 1994. Within four months of its release, it had already taken three-quarters of the browser market.
Initial public offering (IPO)

On August 9, 1995, Netscape made an extremely successful IPO, only sixteen months after the company was formed. The stock was set to be offered at US$14 per share, but a last-minute decision doubled the initial offering to US$28 per share. The stock's value soared to US$75 during the first day of trading, nearly a record for first-day gain. The stock closed at US$58.25, which gave Netscape a market value of US$2.9 billion. While it was somewhat unusual for a company to go public prior to becoming profitable, Netscape's revenues had, in fact, doubled every quarter in 1995.[25] The success of this IPO subsequently inspired the use of the term "Netscape moment" to describe a high-visibility IPO that signals the dawn of a new industry.[26][27] During this period, Netscape also pursued a publicity strategy (crafted by Rosanne Siino, then head of public relations) packaging Andreessen as the company's "rock star."[28] The events of this period ultimately landed Andreessen, barefoot, on the cover of Time magazine.[29] The IPO also helped kickstart widespread investment in internet companies that created the dot-com bubble.[30]
It is alleged that several Microsoft executives visited the Netscape campus in June 1995 to propose dividing the market (an allegation denied by Microsoft and, if true, would have breached antitrust laws), which would have allowed Microsoft to produce web browser software for Windows while leaving all other operating systems to Netscape.[31] Netscape refused the proposition. Microsoft released version 1.0 of Internet Explorer as a part of the Windows 95 Plus Pack add-on. According to former Spyglass developer Eric Sink, Internet Explorer was based not on NCSA Mosaic as commonly believed, but on a version of Mosaic developed at Spyglass[32] (which itself was based upon NCSA Mosaic).
This period of time would become known as the
The
Acquisition by America Online
This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2008) |
On November 24, 1998,
Disbanding
During Netscape's acquisition by AOL, joint development and marketing of Netscape software products would occur through the Sun-Netscape Alliance. In the newly branded iPlanet, the software included "messaging and calendar, collaboration, web, application, directory, and certificate servers", as well as "production-ready applications for e-commerce, including commerce exchange, procurement, selling, and billing."[40] In March 2002, when the alliance was ended, "iPlanet became a division of Sun... Sun retained the intellectual property rights for all products and the engineering"[41]
On July 15, 2003,
After the
Final release of the browser

The Netscape brand name continued to be used extensively. The company once again had its own programming staff devoted to the development and support for the series of
A new version of the Netscape browser, Netscape Navigator 9, based on Firefox 2, was released in October 2007. It featured a green and grey interface. In November 2007, IE had 77.4% of the browser market, Firefox 16.0%, and Netscape 0.6%, according to Net Applications, an Internet metrics firm.[47] On December 28, 2007, AOL announced that it would drop support for the Netscape web browser and would no longer develop new releases on February 1, 2008.[11] The date was later extended to March 1[12] to allow a major security update and to add a tool to assist users in migrating to other browsers. These additional features were included in the final version of Netscape Navigator 9 (version 9.0.0.6), released on February 20, 2008.
Software
Classic releases
Netscape Navigator was Netscape's web browser from versions 1.0–4.8. The first
The browser was easily the most advanced available[citation needed] and so was an instant success, becoming a market leader while still in beta.[18] Netscape's feature-count and market share continued to grow rapidly after version 1.0 was released. Version 2.0 added a full email reader called Netscape Mail, thus transforming Netscape from a single-purpose web browser to an Internet suite. The email client's main distinguishing feature was its ability to display HTML email. During this period, the entire suite was called Netscape Navigator.
Version 3.0 of Netscape (the first beta was codenamed "Atlas") was the first to face any serious competition in the form of Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0.[48] But Netscape remained the most popular browser at that time.
Netscape also released a Gold version of Navigator 3.0 that incorporated WYSIWYG editing with drag and drop between web editor and email components.[49]
Netscape Communicator (versions 4.0–4.8)

Netscape 4 addressed the problem of Netscape Navigator being used as both the name of the suite and the browser contained within it by renaming the suite to Netscape Communicator. After five preview releases in 1996–1997, Netscape released the final version of Netscape Communicator in June 1997. This version, more or less based on Netscape Navigator 3 Code, updated and added new features. The new suite was successful, despite increasing competition from Internet Explorer (IE) 4.0 and problems with the outdated browser core. IE was slow and unstable on the Mac platform until version 4.5.[citation needed] Despite this, Apple entered into an agreement with Microsoft to make IE the default browser on new Mac OS installations, a further blow to Netscape's prestige.[citation needed] The Communicator suite was made up of Netscape Navigator, Netscape Mail & Newsgroups, Netscape Address Book and Netscape Composer (an HTML editor).
On January 22, 1998,
In October 1998, Netscape Communicator 4.5 was released. It featured various functionality improvements, especially in the
Mozilla-based releases
Netscape 6 (versions 6.0–6.2.3)
In 1998, an informal group called the
Netscape 7 (versions 7.0–7.2)
Netscape 7.0 (based on Mozilla 1.0.1) was released in August 2002 as a direct continuation of Netscape 6 with very similar components. It picked up a few users, but was still very much a minority browser. It did, however, come with the popular Radio@Netscape Internet radio client. AOL had decided to deactivate Mozilla's popup-blocker functionality in Netscape 7.0, which created an outrage in the community. AOL reversed the decision and allowed Netscape to reinstate the popup-blocker for Netscape 7.01. Netscape also introduced a new AOL-free-version (without the usual AOL add-ons) of the browser suite. Netscape 7.1 (codenamed "Buffy" and based on Mozilla 1.4) was released in June 2003.
In 2003, AOL closed down its Netscape division and laid-off or reassigned all of Netscape's employees. Mozilla.org continued, however, as the independent Mozilla Foundation, taking on many of Netscape's ex-employees. AOL continued to develop Netscape in-house (with help from Sun's Beijing development center[43]), but, due to there being no staff committed to it, improvements were minimal. One year later, in August 2004, the last version based on Mozilla was released: Netscape 7.2, based on Mozilla 1.7.2.
After an official poll posted on Netscape's community support board in late 2006, speculation arose of the Netscape 7 series of suites being fully supported and updated by Netscape's in-house development team.[51][52][53]
Mozilla Firefox-based releases
Netscape Browser (version 8.0–8.1.3)
Between 2005 and 2007, Netscape's releases became known as Netscape Browser. AOL chose to base Netscape Browser on the relatively successful
Other controversial decisions include the browser only being released for
AOL's acquisition of Netscape Communications in November 1998[55] made it less of a surprise when the company laid off the Netscape team and outsourced development to Mercurial Communications.[when?] Netscape Browser 8.1.3 was released on April 2, 2007, and included general bug fixes identified in versions 8.0–8.1.2[56][57]

End of development and support
AOL officially announced
The decision met mixed reactions from communities, with many arguing that the termination of product support is significantly belated. Internet security site Security Watch stated that a trend of infrequent security updates for AOL's Netscape caused the browser to become a "security liability", specifically the 2005–2007 versions,
Mozilla Thunderbird-based releases
Netscape Messenger 9
On June 11, 2007, Netscape announced Netscape Mercury, a standalone email and news client that was to accompany Navigator 9. Mercury was based on Mozilla Thunderbird.[70] The product was later renamed Netscape Messenger 9, and an alpha version was released. In December 2007, AOL announced it was canceling Netscape's development of Messenger 9 as well as Navigator 9.
Product list
Initial product line
Netscape's initial product line consisted of:
- Netsite Communications web server, with a web-based configuration interface[71]
- Netsite Commerce web server, the Communications server with SSL (https) added
- Netscape Proxy Server
- Netscape Merchant System, an e-commerce platform that supported multiple languages & currencies
Later Netscape products
Netscape's later products included:
- Netscape Personal Edition (the browser along with PPP software and an account creation wizard to sign up with an ISP)
- AOL Instant Messenger and RealAudio)
- Netscape FastTrack and Enterprise web servers
- Netscape Collabra Server, a NNTP news server acquired in a purchase of Collabra Software, Inc.
- Netscape Directory Server, an LDAP server
- Netscape Messaging Server, an IMAP and POP mail server
- Netscape Certificate Server, for issuing SSL certificates
- Netscape Calendar Server, for group scheduling
- Netscape Compass Server, a spider
- Netscape Application Server, for designing web applications
- Netscape Publishing System, for running a commercial site with news articles and charging users per access
- Netscape Xpert Servers
- ECxpert – a server for EDImessage exchange
- SellerXpert – B to BCommerce Engine
- BuyerXpert – eProcurement Engine
- BillerXpert – Online Bill Paying Engine
- TradingXpert – HTML EDI transaction frontend
- CommerceXpert – Online Retail Store engine
- ECxpert – a server for
- Radio@Netscape and Radio@Netscape Plus
Propeller
Between June 2006 and September 2007, AOL operated Netscape's website as social news website similar to Digg. The format did not do well as traffic dropped 55.1 percent between November 2006 and August 2007.[72] In September 2007, AOL reverted Netscape's website to a traditional news portal, and rebranded the social news portal as "Propeller", moving the site to the domain "propeller.com." AOL shut down the Propeller website on October 1, 2010.[72]
Netscape Search
Netscape operated a search engine, Netscape Search, which now redirects to
Another version of Netscape Search was incorporated into Propeller.Other sites
Netscape also operated a number of country-specific Netscape portals, including Netscape Canada among others. The portal of Netscape Germany was shut down in June 2008.[citation needed]
The Netscape Blog was written by Netscape employees discussing the latest on Netscape products and services. Netscape NewsQuake (formerly Netscape Reports) is Netscape's news and opinion blog, including video clips and discussions. As of January 2012[update], no new posts have been made on either of these blogs since August 2008.
Netscape technologies
Netscape created the JavaScript web page scripting language. It also pioneered the development of push technology, which effectively allowed websites to send regular updates of information (weather, stock updates, package tracking, etc.) directly to a user's desktop (aka "webtop"); Netscape's implementation of this was named Netcaster.[74] However, businesses quickly recognized the use of push technology to deliver ads to users, which annoyed them, so Netcaster was short-lived.
Netscape was notable for its
Current services
![]() | This article's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. (January 2022) |
Netscape Internet Service
Netscape ISP is a dial-up Internet service once offered at US$9.95 per month.
Netscape.com
Netscape drove much traffic from various links included in the browser menus to its web properties. Some say it was very late to leverage this traffic[77] for what would become the start of the major online portal wars.[78]
Netscape's exclusive features, such as the Netscape Blog, Netscape NewsQuake, Netscape Navigator, My Netscape and Netscape Community pages, are less accessible from the AOL Netscape designed portal and in some countries not accessible at all without providing a full URL or completing an
Netscape.com now redirects to AOL's website, with no Netscape branding at all.[81] Meanwhile, Netscape.co.uk now redirects to AOL Search, with no Netscape branding at all.[82]
DMOZ
DMOZ (from directory.mozilla.org, its original
See also
- Code Rush, a 2000 documentary about Netscape engineers
- SeaMonkey
- The Book of Mozilla
- Lou Montulli, a founding engineer of Netscape Communications, creator of HTTP cookies
- Brendan Eich, early Netscape employee, creator of JavaScript
References
- ^ "AOL meeting to address Netscape integration". CNET News. March 23, 1999. Archived from the original on June 8, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Swartz, Jon. "Company takes browser war to Netscape's lawn." San Francisco Chronicle. Thursday October 2, 1997. Retrieved on December 29, 2009.
- ISBN 9781118008447.
- ^ Mook, Nate (July 10, 2006). "Firefox Usage Passes 15 Percent in US". BetaNews. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
- ^ "History of SSL at IBM.com". Publib.boulder.ibm.com. Archived from the original on May 10, 2020. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
- ^ a b "America Online Inc. Completes Acquisition of Netscape Communications Corp." Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Business Wire. March 17, 1999. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
- ^ a b "What's $10 Billion to AOL?" Archived November 7, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. Morningstar. April 5, 1999. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
- ^ "Mozilla Stomps Ahead Under AOL". Wired.com. Archived from the original on June 3, 2014. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
- ^ "Netscape Launches Groundbreaking Netscape 6 Browser". netscape.com. December 13, 2001. Archived from the original on December 13, 2001. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
- ^ "mozilla.org Announces Launch of the Mozilla Foundation to Lead Open Source Browser Efforts". Mozilla Foundation. Retrieved December 6, 2011.
- ^ a b c Tom Drapeau (December 28, 2007). "End of Support for Netscape web browsers". Netscape Blog. Archived from the original on January 3, 2008. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
- ^ a b c Tom Drapeau (January 28, 2008). "Netscape Browser Support extended to March 1st". Netscape Blog. Archived from the original on February 7, 2008. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
- ^ "FORM 10-K". Sec.gov. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
- ^ Netscape ISP home page of 2014 with link to Netscape ISP Terms of Service update of 15 September 2014.
- ^ Hawn, Mathew (May 1995). "Netscape Navigator. (Netscape Communications World Wide Web browser) (Software Review)(Evaluation)". Macworld. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
Netscape Communications wants you to forget all the highway metaphors you've ever heard about the Internet. Instead, think about an encyclopedia—one with unlimited, graphically rich pages, connections to E-mail and files, and access to Internet newsgroups and online shopping.
- ^ "AOL will pull the plug on Netscape's tech support". Los Angeles Times. December 29, 2007. Retrieved May 18, 2014.
- ^ a b c Adam Lashinsky (July 25, 2005). "Remembering Netscape: The Birth Of The Web". Fortune Magazine. Archived from the original on April 27, 2006. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-631-23331-2.
- ^ "OPSWARE INC. / On the record: Marc Andreessen". SFGate. December 7, 2003. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
- ^ "Cisco tablet not an iPad knock-off: Chambers" Archived March 28, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Network World. June 30, 2010. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
- ^ "Mosaic's Name Change". The San Francisco Chronicle. November 15, 1994. p. B3.
- ISBN 978-0312199340.
- ^ "Marc Andreessen Revealed (Bloomberg Game Changers)". YouTube.com. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
- ^ "Portfolio of freelance illustrator and animator, Dave W. Titus, Dave Titus Illustrations. Mascots, characters, children's product illustration, packaging and game illustration, and creator of Mozilla". Portfolio.davetitus.com. July 22, 2010. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
- ^ David Sheff. "Going Public as Netscape Did, before making a dime in profits". Wired 8.08. Lycos. Retrieved July 14, 2006.
- ^ "Electric cars: A Netscape Moment?". Economist.com. February 4, 2010. Retrieved May 18, 2014.
- ^ "Is commercial spaceflight's "Netscape moment" near?". The Space Review. July 30, 2012. Retrieved May 18, 2014.
- ^ "Programmer's Bookshelf". Dr. Dobb's Journal. December 1, 1999. Archived from the original on May 19, 2014. Retrieved May 18, 2014.
- ^ "Netscape's Marc Andreessen". Time Magazine. February 19, 1996. Retrieved February 3, 2007.
- ^ Letzing, John (August 17, 2010). "Lycos, an Internet bubble-era star, is sold to Indian firm". MarketWatch. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
- ^ "Government alleges illegal campaign by Microsoft". Archived from the original on July 8, 2006. Retrieved July 14, 2006.
- ^ "Memoirs from the Browser Wars". Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved July 14, 2006.
- ^ Alex Lash. "Netscape cuts prices on retail products". C-Net. Retrieved February 23, 2008.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Alan T. Saracevic (October 23, 2005). "Silicon Valley: It's where brains meet bucks". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 18, 2014.
- ^ Hamerly, Jim; Paquin, Tom (January 1999). O'Reilly (ed.). "Freeing the Source, The Story of Mozilla". Retrieved April 27, 2021..
- ^ a b "Microsoft Subpoenas Bad Attitude". Wired. September 1, 1998. Retrieved July 14, 2006.
- ^ "AOL buys Netscape for $4.2 billion".
- S2CID 153810278.
- ^ "netscape and aol".
- ^ "Sun-Netscape Alliance Announces New iPlanet(TM) Brand and Marketing Campaign". Archived from the original on September 19, 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
- ^ "PCMag". Retrieved November 14, 2015.
- ^ "AOL Cuts Remaining Mozilla Hackers". MozillaZine. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
- ^ a b "Sun Micro To Double Beijing Software Center" Archived November 16, 2004, at the Wayback Machine. HPCwire. August 8, 2003. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
- ^ "Netscape Internet Software Updated". Archived from the original on June 23, 2006. Retrieved July 14, 2006.
- ^ Oracle Web Tier". Oracle. Retrieved July 7, 2012
- ^ UFAQ. org – "Announcing Netscape 9" by Jay Garcia Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on February 5, 2007
- ^ Gonsalves, Antone (December 28, 2007). "AOL Kills Netscape's Future, Leaves Firefox to Battle IE". Informationweek.com. CMP Media LLC. Archived from the original on December 30, 2007. Retrieved December 29, 2007.
- ^ "Whatever happened to Netscape?". Engadget. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
- ^ "Netscape Navigator Gold 3.0 Now Available, Adding Momentum to Netscape Client Software". Archived from the original on October 20, 2012.
- ^ "January 22, 1998 — the Beginning of Mozilla | Mitchell's Blog".
- ^ Netscape Community Announcement – Netscape 7.2 Archived January 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on February 8, 2007
- ^ Netscape Community poll – Should Netscape continue to update 7.2? Archived January 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on February 8, 2007
- ^ Mozillazine – Netscape 9 announced Retrieved on February 8, 2007
- ^ "Netscape 8 and Internet Explorer's XML Rendering". May 25, 2005.
- ^ PC World Article Nov 24, 1998 12am Archived June 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Netscape Community – Netscape 8.1.3 Archived May 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on February 8, 2007
- ^ Netscape Community – Netscape 8.1.3 released Archived January 10, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on April 2, 2007
- ^ Netscape 9.0 confirmed on Netscape's community support board Archived March 27, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on January 24, 2007
- ^ Netscape 9 – February 20 Announcement Archived January 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on February 20, 2007
- ^ Netscape 9.0 30- January 7 announcement Archived May 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on January 30, 2007
- ^ Netscape 9 – February 6, 2007 announcement Archived October 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on February 6, 2007
- ^ Netscape 9.0b1 released Archived January 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on June 5, 2007
- ^ Netscape announces cross-platform Netscape 9 to be developed in-house – Mozillazine Retrieved on February 5, 2007
- ^ "AOL to End Support for Netscape Browser". Washington Post. PC World. December 28, 2007. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
- ^ "Netscape Death is long overdue, Good for Security". Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved January 2, 2008.
- ^ "it's about time. r.i.p. netscape browser". Archived from the original on January 1, 2008. Retrieved January 2, 2008.
- ^ "Save Netscape Petition". Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved January 2, 2008.
- ^ "Netscape Community – Online Petition for the Support of NN". Retrieved January 2, 2008.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Save Netscape!". Archived from the original on February 15, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2008.
- ^ Netscape Mercury in progress Archived October 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on June 11, 2007
- ^ "Killer Products: Netsite". April 6, 2008. Archived from the original on April 6, 2008. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
- ^ a b "Propeller.com Spinning to a Stop - Search Engine Watch (#SEW)". Search Engine Watch. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
- ^ "AOL Takes Over Majority of Microsoft's Ad Business, Swaps Google Search For Bing".
- ^ "Netscape pushes out Netcaster". ZDNET. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
- ^ "GetNetscape Home Page". Retrieved March 20, 2008.
- ^ "Netscape Launches Low-Cost Internet Access Service". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved June 3, 2007.
- ^ Netscape late to leverage traffic - CNET News. News.cnet.com. Retrieved on 2013-09-08.
- ^ Smith, Tony (December 17, 1998). "theregister.co.uk". theregister.co.uk. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
- ^ Netscape Community responses Archived October 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on September 20, 2007
- ^ New Netscape Portal – Netscape Community Archived October 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on August 14, 2007
- ^ "Netscape.com". Retrieved April 21, 2021.
- ^ "Netscape.co.uk". Archived from the original on September 30, 2019. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
- ^ "DMOZ has officially closed after nearly 19 years of humans trying to organize the web". March 17, 2017.
Further reading
- Jim Clark, Netscape Time: The Making of the Billion-Dollar Start-Up That Took On Microsoft, St. Martin's Press, 1999.
- Michael E. Cusumano and David B. Yoffie, Competing On Internet Time: Lessons From Netscape And Its Battle With Microsoft, The Free Press, 1998, 2000.
- Fortune Magazine, "Remembering Netscape: The Birth Of The Web", July 25, 2005.
External links