Netscape Navigator RIP

The current Netscape isn't the same as the first Netscape Navigator 1.0 client I used back in early 1995 on a 486 IBM clone, whose brand is still in existence because AOL bought it. But even then I can't help put shed a virtual tear for the brand, whose official existence will come to an end today. It was the first web browser I ever used when we were finally connected to the internet, and back it was the only relevant choice and continued to for some years until Internet Explorer 4.0 came along and started gobbling up market share.


And I have not looked back since. Sadly I haven't used a Netscape browser in years, what with Opera & Firefox leading the field in my web browsing habits with the occasional use of IE (for certain sites) and Netfront (on my Win Mob phone and PSP). But Firefox, whom many admits as the real spiritual successor to Netscape is fast emulating Netscape. It is getting bloated (even without extensions), it crashes easily and it isn't as secure as they sometimes claims. I hope for our sake that they do not emulate the many bad decisions made by Netscape's owners.

Goodbye Netscape. Thanks for the memories, but to be honest I won't miss you one bit.