Netscape: How the Mighty Have Fallen

When I bought my first notebook computer in 1995, an unwieldy Compac that weighed a ton, had limited memory and the speed of a tortoise, it was pre-loaded with Windows 95 and Netscape Navigator 2.0, the inaugural version of what would quickly become the first widely used Web browser.

Not that I had any choice. The release of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser was still a few months off, and I disdained using it until I bought my second notebook, an IBM ThinkPad, a couple of years later.

I made the leap because Netcape was already falling behind and IE was improving by leaps and bounds as Web browsing became more sophisticated.

That Netscape continued to lag and never got its mojo back is a cautionary tale that bigger isn't necessarily better.

Bigger in this instance was the purchase of Netscape by America Online in 1999, which blew a golden opportunity to put the big bucks and imagination into the browser that would keep it competitive with IE.

So it comes as no surprise that AOL has decided that it will discontinue development and active support for the Netscape browser on February 1. The Netscape.com Web site will soldier on as a general-purpose portal.

Meanwhile, the folks at Microsoft did not lack for money or imagination with each new IE upgrade, but I've been using Mozilla's Firefox since shortly after its initial release in November 2004 because of its ease of use.

A lot of people agree: Firefox has captured a healthy 16 percent of the browser market, while Netscape has barely one half of 1 percent.

More here.