The browser that helped kick-start the commercial web is to cease development because of lack of users.Netscape Navigator, now owned by AOL, will no longer be supported after 1 February 2008, the company has said.In the mid-1990s the browser was used by more than 90% of the web population, but numbers have slipped to just 0.6%.In particular, the browser has faced competition from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), which is now used by nearly 80% of all web users.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7163547.stmRIP: AOL kills Netscape
AOL LLC today pulled the plug on Netscape Navigator, the Web browser that once owned the lion’s share of the market and that was the focus of a landmark federal antitrust case against Microsoft Corp.In an announcement posted to AOL’s blog for the browser, Tom Drapeau, the director of the company’s Netscape brand, said the team is ending development and would cease issuing security updates as of Feb. 1, 2008.”Given AOL’s current business focus and the success the Mozilla Foundation has had in developing critically-acclaimed products, we feel it’s the right time to end development of Netscape-branded browsers, hand the reigns [sic] fully to Mozilla and encourage Netscape users to adopt Firefox,” Drapeau said.
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9054521AOL Kills Netscape’s Future, Leaves Firefox To Battle IE
AOL on Friday stopped development of the Netscape browser, saying the respected brand that launched the commercial Internet in 1994 had little chance of ever regaining market share against its archrival Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=205204433AOL to End Support of Netscape Navigator [AP]
Netscape Navigator, the world’s first commercial Web browser and the starting point of the Internet boom, will be pulled off life support Feb. 1 after a 13-year run.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/29/technology/29browser.html
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-netscape29dec29,1,4834833.storyAOL to End Support for Netscape Browser
An historic name in software will effectively pass into history in February as AOL discontinues development and active support for the Netscape browser, according to an official blog.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140903-c,netscape/article.html