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Netscape & Mozilla going bye-bye

OutHouse

OutHouse

Lifer

Is the End Near for Netscape?
Thu Jul 17, 9:00 AM ET

Joris Evers, IDG News Service

The death knell is sounding for the Netscape browser, industry observers said, following America Online's decision Tuesday to lay off about 50 Netscape software developers and end development work on the Mozilla browser technology.



Geoff Johnston, vice president for StatMarket, a division of San Diego-based Web tracking company WebSideStory, agreed. "It sounds like AOL is really throwing in the towel. I think we have seen our last version of Netscape," he said.


AOL spokesperson Andrew Weinstein denied that the final hour has come for the Netscape browser. "We will continue to support the Netscape browser and Netscape remains a part of our multibrand strategy," he said.

Moving Slowly

However, many signs point to a slow death for the browser. "I don't think anybody is working on the Netscape browser anymore after the Tuesday layoffs," said one industry insider who asked not to be named. His comments are echoed in online bulletin boards about Netscape and Mozilla, the technology underlying the Netscape browser.


The last major release of the Netscape browser and associated software was in August last year with version 7.0. However, most Netscape users never upgraded past version 4.7, according to WebSideStory's Johnston.


Netscape was the most popular browser in the early years of the Web. However, its market share started crumbling when Microsoft introduced Internet Explorer in the mid-nineties. The acquisition of Netscape by Microsoft rival AOL in late 1998 and a lengthy antitrust trial could not change the browser's fortune.


AOL's concession to Microsoft in the browser space was really already clear when it negotiated a seven-year, royalty-free license to use Internet Explorer with its AOL client software as part of a lawsuit settlement with Microsoft in May, Johnston said. "That is when AOL conceded the war, surrendered to Microsoft and turned things over," he said.


Microsoft's Internet Explorer held over 94 percent of the browser market in June 2003, leaving just over 5 percent to be divided between Netscape, Apple Computer's Safari, and other browsers including Opera, from Opera Software, and Mozilla, according to WebSideStory.

Money Matters
Linky
 
I thought it was gone long ago.. poor netscape. It was the king at one time, back around 2.x then gradually went down hill from there. The release of 6 really hurt them.. and it just got way too bloated.. 🙁
 
I read about that yesterday. As if Netscape was all that significant anymore. AOL just needs to ditch it completely and move on.
 
Originally posted by: jfall
I thought it was gone long ago.. poor netscape. It was the king at one time, back around 2.x then gradually went down hill from there. The release of 6 really hurt them.. and it just got way too bloated.. 🙁
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i've never used it when given an option between it and IE.....just so much easier to navagate using IE....:-\ long live IE
 
Originally posted by: Encryptic
I read about that yesterday. As if Netscape was all that significant anymore. AOL just needs to ditch it completely and move on.
Click to expand...


Well, they gave money to the Mozilla foundation. If Firebird can get out of 0.6 it should be really great. Even at .6 it is still pretty good, better and faster than IE (although it takes more time to start up)
 
Going? I haven't used Netscape in years. It was the first browser I used, but after going to internet explorer, I never wanted to go back.
 
Originally posted by: mchammer187

The death knell is sounding for the Netscape browser, industry observers said, following America Online's decision Tuesday to lay off about 50 Netscape software developers and end development work on the Mozilla browser technology.
Click to expand...

that kinda seems misleading to me then
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AOL will not be directly financing Mozilla development; they will instead donate money to a non-profit foundation whose purpose is to manage Mozilla development. This way, their money becomes a write-off instead of a capital sink.

Read the Mozilla Foundation press release.
 
FINALLY, my work will have to give up on Netscape Enterprise.

What a piece of trash... good riddance if you ask me. :disgust:
 
I thought the settlement between MS and AOL, reached a month ago was in part to derail NS while MS gave them lots of money and then AOL would be pro MS.
 
Originally posted by: FeathersMcGraw
Originally posted by: mchammer187

The death knell is sounding for the Netscape browser, industry observers said, following America Online's decision Tuesday to lay off about 50 Netscape software developers and end development work on the Mozilla browser technology.
Click to expand...

that kinda seems misleading to me then
Click to expand...

AOL will not be directly financing Mozilla development; they will instead donate money to a non-profit foundation whose purpose is to manage Mozilla development. This way, their money becomes a write-off instead of a capital sink.

Read the Mozilla Foundation press release.
Click to expand...
Note however that it is not enough money for the MF to hire all the laid-off programmers.
 
And for any of you guys wondering if that means that mozilla is going to disappear, I seriously doubt it. There are a ton of Linux geek programmers willing to pick up development because Mozilla is practically the only popular cross platform browser (or so it is the base of most of their browsers.
 
We switched to Mozilla a LONG time ago when it first came out and Opera before that. Gave up on NS in the 4.x branch and never used IE except for viewing the sites of customers who seem to think that "Made for IE only" sites are the only way to go and only viewable/usable in IE. Otherwise we use Mozilla for everything. Never failed us once. Too bad NS couldn't shape up. But since it's gone, good riddence.
 
I hope not. I just installed NS 7.1, and it ROCKS! It's faster, and they cleaned up some of the strange artifacts of previous version 7 releases.

Looks like changes are coming, though. On their site, Mozilla.org announced the Mozilla Foundation:
The Mozilla Foundation is a new non-profit organization that will serve as the home for mozilla.org. As before, mozilla.org will coordinate and encourage the development and testing of Mozilla code. The Mozilla Foundation will also promote the distribution and adoption of our flagship applications based on that code. AOL, Sun Microsystems, Red Hat, and other companies will continue to support Mozilla through the Foundation.

What this means for the Mozilla browser and our other products and technologies: more innovation from the open source developers, and a greater focus on end users.

Read the press release and our newsgroup announcement.
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This paragraph in the press release gives me some hope:
To help launch the new organization, America Online has pledged $2 million in cash to the Mozilla Foundation over the next two years. AOL will also contribute additional resources through equipment, domain names and trademarks, and related intellectual property, as well as providing some transitional assistance for key personnel as they move into the new organization.
Click to expand...
 
IMO the bottom line is that Netscape has been dead for a long time going now. It's just been kept alive on life support. IE killed it long ago (thank god, I never liked Netscape in the first place).

Mozilla, on the other hand, isn't going anywhere. It'll be around for a long time. It's open source and people will support it for a long time. That doesn't mean I'll use it. (I still prefer IE to Firebird, et al.) Maybe later on I'll like it more, but for now: Good riddance to Crapscape.

\Dan
 
Originally posted by: EeyoreX
Maybe later on I'll like it more, but for now: Good riddance to Crapscape.
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If you haven't tried the new one, aren't you speaking from rather substantial ignorance? BTW...
30 June 2003 Netscape 7.1 Released
Netscape 7.1 is available for download. Based on Mozilla 1.4, this release includes great new features like junk-mail filtering, developer tools and IDN support. Read more and discuss at MozillaZine.org.
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So, even if Netscape goes, I already know the latest Mozilla will fill the gap. 🙂
 
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