Thursday, July 12, 2007

Browser Wars: Episode V -- Attack of the Clones

Yes, I know about the title. That's deliberate.

We come now to Netscape. It was, of course, the original web browser, but was thrown for a loop when Microsoft started giving away Internet Explorer. Netscape didn't make Opera's mistake of continuing to charge, and managed to hold on to its share until overwhelmed.

If I was giving an award for most improved browser, Netscape would be the winner. They eliminated their nasty habit of requiring you to login to their website in order to run the software and made the decision to go open source, which gives them access to Firefox extensions.

Which is ultimately the problem with Netscape. They now appear to be a Firefox clone. So why use Netscape when you can use the original?