Death To Netscape

Posted on January 1st, 2008
by Lisa Stewart: : Better Rankings By Blogging

Haven;t had time to process it yet- but just saw this on cbc.ca Netscape fades to black

Netscape Navigator, the world’s first commercial web browser and the launch pad of the Internet boom, 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. Netscape’s usage dwindled with Microsoft Corp.’s entry into the browser business, and Netscape all but faded away following the birth of its open-source cousin, Firefox.

“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.

I remember first downloading Netscape back in 1995 over my new superfast modem- 14800, and it taking about 3 hours. I think I used Mosiac to get it.. Does anyone even remember Mosiac or am i hallucinate it?

I remember being addicted to IRC and trout slapping.. virtual hugs.. {{{{{{Lisa}}}}}}} ( which still make me cringe!)
Then discovering list-servs and one-list ( now Yahoo groups) and joining a group to discuss Coronation Street and Schipperkes. There were no pictures on web pages back then- I still remember when they started popping up and many people had to disable that option in the browser.

I remember hating Microsoft when they introduced Internet Explorer a few yeasr later and I refused to make the switch over.. for a long long time.. I thinki installed my forst copy of IE in 2000 something…

Thank God for Firefox!
It does feels like an old friend is going away- or a piece of my history and love/hate relationship with the Internet is gone. I feel like one of those old cronies mumbling about the day..

Do You have any memories of Netscape? Do you care that it won’t be around much longer?

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