The last nail in Netscape's coffin

[holygoat]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a.QrjKUdHrrQ&refer=us

Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Netscape, the Web browser once used in 80 percent of all Internet sessions, will be shut down by AOL after failing to regain market share from Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer.

Netscape users should switch to Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser, Netscape director Tom Drapeau wrote on his blog. America Online Inc. paid $9.8 billion in 1999 for Netscape, which by then had been crippled by Microsoft.

The decision ends AOL's almost nine-year effort to revive Netscape, the browser that helped popularize Internet use by making it easier for millions of consumers to log on. AOL bought Netscape to broaden its revenue sources as its dial-up Web- access service declined. New versions developed by AOL failed to dent Internet Explorer. AOL started offering e-mail and search services for free last year to boost advertising revenue.

I'm surprised they waited this long to kill it. Firefox has pretty much made it useless.

[iceteebone]

I didn't even know Netscape was still around. I've been using Firefox for about a year.

[guy incognito]

Haven't used it in years, but Netscape was my first browser. I can't help but feel a pang of nostalgic melancholy on reading this.

[DennisDubay]

Same here. It was my first web browser, back in the day when i used www.webcrawler.com as my goto search engine. How time flyth, my friends.

[chasfh]

My first web browser was the positively godawful Netcom browser. It's so ancient and forgotten that I can barely find any mention of it through Google. Anyone else ever use this?

[DennisDubay]

My first web browser was the positively godawful Netcom browser. It's so ancient and forgotten that I can barely find any mention of it through Google. Anyone else ever use this?

My first internet provider was the local newspaper. They ran a BBS (Bulletin Board System) with internet available. I believe in the beginning they installed Netcom then switch over to Netscape.

[DennisDubay]

Is this is, ChaseFH?

http://www.cnet.com.au/downloads/0,239030384,10146987s,00.htm#rating

[Biff Mayhem]

The latest version of Netscape was really good but it was basically the same thing as Firefox.

[DennisDubay]

Is it just my computer .. or does it take forever for Internet Explorer to load? I hardly ever use it anymore, but some sites require it.

[Oblong]

I tried firefox and I don't like it. I use IE. I know it's not cool but once I remove all the junk toolbars it's fine. I found firerox taking too long to load. everything in firefox looked cheaper. On IE it comes across as a glossy magazine, on firefox it comes across like a circuit city newspaper ad.

[Corky]

Is it just my computer .. or does it take forever for Internet Explorer to load? I hardly ever use it anymore, but some sites require it.

Get the IE Tab plugin for Firefox. Works great!

[DennisDubay]

Get the IE Tab plugin for Firefox. Works great!

Thanks for the tip, Corky. Works like a charm.

[Team Mom]

We also use Firefox. It is much easier to just use my MSN account but Huey says the Firefox is better and causes less viruses.

[potthole]

I tried firefox and I don't like it. I use IE. I know it's not cool but once I remove all the junk toolbars it's fine. I found firerox taking too long to load. everything in firefox looked cheaper. On IE it comes across as a glossy magazine, on firefox it comes across like a circuit city newspaper ad.


I agree with this statement.

[hueytaxi]

I use IE for MTS and that's about it, FF for the others, Never liked Netscape, but grew up on AOL which hindered progress.

[DaYooperASBDT]

Anybody use Opera? I did for a short time, but went back to IE. I really like IE since they added the tabs.

[chuckles396]

I've been using Mozilla stuff since 2003. I used the precursor to firefox, firebird. I've been using firefox since it was released. It works great for me. I really like the customization. I don't ever use IE unless I absolutely have to.

[PuNk42AE]

I've been IE since I left Netscape years and years and years ago.

[Blue Square Thing]

Anybody use Opera? I did for a short time, but went back to IE. I really like IE since they added the tabs.

I use Opera for 99% of my web use.

The thing is that stuff like tabs and mouse gestures (which rock) are developed in Opera quicker than in IE and, to an extent, Firefox. It's also much more secure I think - and they patch it better and quicker than the IE blokes do (there was that IE image security thingy last year which they got round to patching in about November just as the media had gotten ahead of it; Opera patched the same threat in June of the year...)

I can't get Google to log in using Opera (to use i-Google) or one of my e-mail providers to work in Opera as web mail, and the network system at school needs IE. Oh, and MLB audio is dodgy in Opera so I use Firefox for that.

Opera rocks. That'll be that Norwegian thing I guess.

[DaYooperASBDT]

Opera rocks. That'll be that Norwegian thing I guess.Oh Jeez, Ian, just pack up and move there already !! :cool:

[Blue Square Thing]

Oh Jeez, Ian, just pack up and move there already !! :cool:

Actually a bloke I got to know through a usenet group back in the day, ended up getting a job with them without ever having heard of them. In Sweden I think. Think blonde... :-)

[djhutch]

I tried firefox and I don't like it. I use IE. I know it's not cool but once I remove all the junk toolbars it's fine. I found firerox taking too long to load. everything in firefox looked cheaper. On IE it comes across as a glossy magazine, on firefox it comes across like a circuit city newspaper ad.

Did you try THIS? (http://www.motownsports.com/forums/showpost.php?p=389635&postcount=39)

What about THIS? (http://www.motownsports.com/forums/showpost.php?p=390080&postcount=41)

[TheCouga]

Did you try THIS? (http://www.motownsports.com/forums/showpost.php?p=389635&postcount=39)

What about THIS? (http://www.motownsports.com/forums/showpost.php?p=390080&postcount=41)

I did both of those, but I couldn't find the "turbo" option on my config list.

[TheCouga]

I use Opera for 99% of my web use.

The thing is that stuff like tabs and mouse gestures (which rock) are developed in Opera quicker than in IE and, to an extent, Firefox. It's also much more secure I think - and they patch it better and quicker than the IE blokes do (there was that IE image security thingy last year which they got round to patching in about November just as the media had gotten ahead of it; Opera patched the same threat in June of the year...)

I can't get Google to log in using Opera (to use i-Google) or one of my e-mail providers to work in Opera as web mail, and the network system at school needs IE. Oh, and MLB audio is dodgy in Opera so I use Firefox for that.

Opera rocks. That'll be that Norwegian thing I guess.

I used to use opera, but there were just too many things it wouldn't work with (MLB, gmail, my school e-mail) so I switched to Firefox instead. I didn't like to have to use two browsers. I liked Opera better, though. If they ever get it to work with those sites, I would happily switch back.

[DennisDubay]

I did both of those, but I couldn't find the "turbo" option on my config list.

Yeah, I didn't find the "turbo" option either ... must have taken that out in newer versions of Firefox.

However, the other stuff worked fantastically. Thanks gang.

[Blue Square Thing]

I used to use opera, but there were just too many things it wouldn't work with (MLB, gmail, my school e-mail) so I switched to Firefox instead. I didn't like to have to use two browsers. I liked Opera better, though. If they ever get it to work with those sites, I would happily switch back.

Fwiw, it's not an Opera problem. Opera manages to keep to all the web standards much more effectively than other browsers. It's a problem associated with the very, very few sites who continue to code in such ways as to go way off standard.

Also, I must admit that with tabbed browsing there's not really that much difference between using multiple tabs and having two browsers open at the same time...

[chuckles396]

I did both of those, but I couldn't find the "turbo" option on my config list.

Neither did I, but I added it to the list. I've noticed a difference since I did that.