Say goodbye to the Netscape Browser
AOL announces the end of development and support for Netscape web browsers.
In1999, AOL acquired the floundering Netscape Communications Corporation, which included their flagship Netscape browser. AOL has announced, on the Netscape Blog, on December 28, 2007, that all development and technical support for it's Netscape line of browsers will end on February 1, 2008. This support includes security patches and stability updates. After February 1, there will be no more active product support for Navigator 9, or any previous Netscape Navigator browser. This includes Netscape v1-v4.x, Netscape v6, Netscape v7 Suite, Netscape Browser v8, and Netscape Navigator/Messenger 9.
The folks running the Netscape division of AOL recommend that people who have been using their branded version of Netscape switch to Firefox and I second that opinion. Netscape, in its current incarnation, is based on the the same rendering engine as Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser. Mozilla is the parent of Firefox. You can download Firefox here. It is updated frequently and is actively being developed and supported.
Their recommendation for the nostalgic out there is to download Mozilla Firefox, and add on the Netscape theme and Netscape extensions which are available here:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/user/56836
Despite the demise of the Netscape browser, the Netscape.com portal will remain online and active.
For those who have never used Firefox before and have been using Internet Explorer, one phase of installation will offer to import you IE Favorites and Cookies, which I recommend. With Firefox your IE "Favorites" will now be named "Bookmarks." Firefox uses tabs to open new web pages, instead of new windows, unless you prefer it the old way (it's an option). Firefox's preferences are called "Options" and are found at the bottom of the "Tools" menu item. Firefox has a default setting to automatically check for browser updates, but you can manually do so via "Help" > "Check for Updates."
A brief history of Netscape browsers
The history of the Netscape brand of web browsers encompasses 17 years, from its beginnings in 1994, through its announced demise. on February 1, 2008. The first beta versions of the browser were released in 1994 and known as Mosaic and then Mosaic Netscape until a legal challenge led to the name change to Netscape Navigator. The company's name also changed from Mosaic Communications Corporation to Netscape Communications Corporation.
By the time that Netscape Navigator reached version 3, in August of 1996, it had accumulated over an 80% share of the Internet browser market. It was even offered as an optional browser plug-in by AOL, during 1996 (I remember downloading and using it in those days). Back then, AOL came with a really simple browser, coded entirely by AOL staff, so the optional Netscape Navigator browser was like a space artifact to advanced AOL users.
Netscape Navigator versions 1 through 3 supported many new features such as new plug-ins, background colors for tables, the archive attribute and the applet element. They had an email button which could be used with Navigator's built-in POP3 e-mail client: "Netscape Mail." The "Gold" version 3 browser also sported a built-in WYSIWYG HTML editor, which allowed one to create entire web sites using just the browser and editor.
In June of 1997 Netscape released Navigator 4.0, which featured some CSS1 support and the most current JavaScript engine, along with many HTML and rendering improvements. This version also introduced the world to absolutely positioned, hidden and visible Layers. Netscape 4 series browsers were available either as stand-alone "Navigator" browsers, or as part of a suite of applications, named Netscape Communicator.
Development of the independently owned Netscape browser peaked in late 1998, at version 4.08. In November of 1998 Netscape was sold to AOL. Under AOL's funding the Netscape browser received many improvements, that included a total rewrite of its rendering engine, beginning in January 1998. A series of untimely development delays caused the Netscape 5 to be skipped entirely. It was only due to extreme pressure, from the folks who wrote the paychecks, that version 6.0 was released, on November 14, 2000. Unfortunately for Netscape, this release was badly flawed and was rejected by the very people it was meant to win over. This two year delay, and flaky release caused immeasurable damage to Netscape's browser market share, which was lost to Internet Explorer.
In 2003, AOL closed down its Netscape division and laid-off or re-assigned 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, but, due to there being no staff committed to it, improvements were minimal (version 7.2 in August 2004). Between 2005 and 2007, Netscape's releases became known as Netscape Browser. AOL chose to base Netscape Browser on the relatively successful Mozilla Firefox, a re-written version of Mozilla produced by the Mozilla Foundation.
Mozilla has been constantly improving the Firefox line of browsers, as shown by their gaining a decent portion of the browser market. With AOL's announcement that the Netscape branded browsers will come to an end, on February 1, 2008, they and I recommend that people seeking a secure, standards compliant browser should switch to Mozilla's Firefox, which is updated frequently and well respected. You can download the latest Firefox release here.
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