Where Have All the Netscapes Gone?

Netscape dominated the early Internet by bringing the first commercially available web browser to the general public. The company was joined by many of the individuals on the Mosaic development team at the University of Illinois, and after a lawsuit being announced, changed the company name from "Mosaic Communications" to Netscape. The first version of the browser was initiated in October of 1994, and the final stable version of the Netscape Navigator browser was released in December of the same year.

Web packets soon surpassed the FTP packets on the net and Netscape led the way with Mozilla. Netscape Navigator was also called Mozilla, being designed for use on all three of the leading computer operating systems; Mac, Windows, and UNIX. It also incorporated web, email, and newsgroups into a single application providing easier use and better integration.

Netscape Information:

· Mosaic Communications

· Getting started with Netscape

· The Netscape company blog; although no longer maintained it is a good source of information and resources.

· Using Netscape Composer for web design

· Netscape 3.0 information and resources

· Upgrading Internet Explorer, Netscape was 100% free to use and download. Netscape Navigator continued to dominate the market into the 1990s until the Mozilla Foundation was founded and AOL purchased Netscape. Since then Mozilla and Firefox have been part of the open source movement that has been embraced by Mozilla.

Popular Browsers

· Netscape Navigator: Although no longer supported, Netscape Navigator can still be used and downloaded.

· Google Chrome: Designed for simplicity and features a browser history of page thumbnails on the home page.

· Opera: Internet browser downloads.

· Safari 4: For Internet browsing on Apple.

· Konqueor: Browser and file management for the K desktop environment in UNIX systems.

· Amaya: A web browser and editor designed by the W3C.

· Download FireFox

FireFox controls as much of the browser market as Internet Explorer due to the fact that it's an open source. This enables users to create additional components that other users may download and change and use themselves. The styles and colors may be changed with a small amount of knowledge or could be learned in a short period of time. FireFox is designed to be more secure than other leading browsers and in most cases it is. There are a few add-ons that can provide a safer and more secure Internet browsing experience which can be found at FireFox's add-ons page. Essentially FireFox offers wider user customization and a safer way to traverse the Internet.