Say Bye, Bye To Netscape

[Geekyfanboy]

http://www.sliceofscifi.com/2007/12/31/say-bye-bye-to-netscape/

One of the pioneers of internet browsing is preparing to ride off into the sunset. According to PC World AOL will discontinue development and active support for the Netscape browser. Netscape was the original mass-market Web browser.

AOL will keep delivering security patches for the current version of Netscape until February 1, 2008. However, the Netscape.com Web site will remain as a general-purpose portal according to 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. Users will still be able to download old versions of Netscape from an archive, though they will not be supported by AOL," Drapeau wrote.

[Ktrek]

I never really cared for Netscape anyway and Firefox is a better choice.

Kevin

[davekill]

Bye Netscape, you where the last browser I ever had to pay for  :'(

[Dan M]

I don't think it's really going away.  Firefox is its descendant.  The name is gone, but I don't think that's as important.  As long as there's a viable (superior) alternative to IE, it's all the same.

And I say this as a developer who on many days wishes there was just a complete monopoly of one browser.  :)

[Blackride]

Good bye Netscape you were old and slow!

[markinro]

I think I used it once or twice a long time ago.  I've been using IE ever since v4 - works perfectly.

[space_invader64]

I used to like it before AOL took it over.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

I used it a lot on our old computer until we got a new one then started transitioning to IE then I'm starting to transition to Firefox.  Its too bad its going but I won't miss it too much. 

King

[space_invader64]

It's aways good to have at least 2 browsers on your computer because one can break.  And some sites work better with diffrent browsers.

I always liked it as a covert browser so I could look up things and no one else in the house seeing it.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

It's aways good to have at least 2 browsers on your computer because one can break.  And some sites work better with diffrent browsers.

I always liked it as a covert browser so I could look up things and no one else in the house seeing it.

I use firefox and Opera now. 

King

[markinro]

It's aways good to have at least 2 browsers on your computer because one can break.  And some sites work better with diffrent browsers.

I always liked it as a covert browser so I could look up things and no one else in the house seeing it.

Firefox can break ??  :)

[space_invader64]

Yeah, pretty much any application can break and the cure is to uninstall and reinstall.  Which is a real pain when I was doing tech support and windows users only had internet explorer.  When it broke, there wasn't a way to redownload it.

[Rico]

Kind of a sad to hear this.  I used Netscape back in my early days online.  It was tops then.  But since I went to Firefox years ago I've never looked back.  Plus if I ever need to use IE there is an addon to allow you to open an IE tab in Firefox if you find a web site that needs IE.  So I have the best of both worlds that way. 

[moyer777]

I rememeber when our town first got a pipeline to the Internet that wasn't AOL.  I could fit Netscape on two little floppy discs and installed it on my packard bell dx 486 with the 14.4 modem.  Now that was surfing!  That little N on the right hand side of the screen!   I remember how it took a good 15 minutes to explain to me that you didn't need AOL to surf the net, that AOL just hooked up to it.  :)

[jedijeff]

I have not used Netscape in years, sorry to hear it go, but for the most part it has not been a relevent browser for quite sometime now. I agree with the others, I usually have two browsers on my system, as some sites load differently depending on the browser.