Firefox left to take the fight to Internet Explorer
In 1999, AOL completed the acquisition of the Netscape Communications Corporation and implemented Netscape as the browser of its choice.
Eight years later and development of the browser is coming to an end. Speaking on the official Netscape blog, director of development Tom Drapeau cites a struggle to compete against Microsoft's Internet Explorer as a primary reason, stating:
"While internal groups within AOL have invested a great deal of time and energy in attempting to revive Netscape Navigator, these efforts have not been successful in gaining market share from Microsoft's Internet Explorer."
The Netscape browser had once held a dominant position in the battle of browsers, but as of November 2007, the flagging browser could claim only 0.6% of the market. Having fallen so far behind, AOL believe the task of reviving Netscape to be near to impossible. As a result, Mr Drapeau says "we feel it's the right time to end development of Netscape branded browsers, hand the reins fully to Mozilla and encourage Netscape users to adopt Firefox".
The news will come as a blessing to Mozilla, who's ever-growing Firefox browser will no doubt claim another chunk of Microsoft's market share as AOL users make the switch to its browser.
Though browser support will be discontinued come February 1st, Netscape.com will continue to run as a general web portal.
Source: official Netscape blog
