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.
I loved the Netscape browser, and I used to scrap with anyone over the topic. Once they released 8.0, though, the writing was on the wall. The browser used either Firefox or IE to render the page, which made it pointless to use it instead of one of the other two. I still have 7.x on my laptop. I think I'll fire it up for old time's sake.
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