In memoriam
Netscape
Born 1994. Died 1 March 2008.
Netscape passed on 1 March 2008, having lived fourteen years as the browser that gave the web to the world. Born in 1994, it made the internet navigable. At its peak it held more than eighty percent of the market. Microsoft bundled Internet Explorer with Windows. The browser wars began. Netscape lost. AOL acquired it in 1998. The company open-sourced the code, which became Firefox. Netscape became a skinned version of Firefox. By 2008 its share had fallen to less than one percent. AOL announced the end of support. Users were directed to Firefox. On 1 March the last security update was issued. He is survived by Firefox, which carries his code, and by the conviction that the web ought to belong to those who use it.
AOL will end support for Netscape. We recommend users migrate to Firefox.
Killed by platform
Mourned by Those who browsed the web before Explorer, engineers who built the open internet, and anyone who remembers when a browser could still feel like a frontier.
Firefox, which carries its code; Mozilla, which carries its mission; and the memory of eighty percent of the web, which it once held.