All sins are attempts to fill voids - Simone Weil
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Life support cut on Netscape Navigator
THE first browser war will be officially over in February when the Netscape Navigator is finally scrapped.
The war between Microsoft and Navigator has been won by Vole which has now fighting the likes of Firefox. However Navigator had refused to actually die.
Now AOL, which bought Netscape in 1998 for $4.2 billion, has said that it will not continue to develop the browser.
Only a few engineers are still working on Navigator and their job is mostly to stick a Netscape theme on Firebadger, an AOL spokesman said.
Currently Netscape is only used by 0.6 per cent of the market in comparison to Internet Exploder's 77.35 per cent and Firerodent's 16.01 per cent.
However there are people still living who can remember when Netscape was the default browser and had 90 per cent of the market. Some even laughed when Microsoft decided to launch a browser of its own.
The final death of Netscape is mostly dueto AOL’s move into an ad-supported web business.
The Mozzarella foundation, which spun off from Netscape, has done a much better job at providing a rival for Vole.
According to Techcrunch, AOL is also setting up a Netscape Archive where users will be able to download old versions of Netscape to play with and remember the good old days.
More here. µ
Tags: Microsoft
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Any chance that The Inquirer could provide a way to translate Mr. Farrell's articles into English? 

I would suggest that Nick's work process involves relaxing his neck until his head hits the keyboard, but this would incorrectly imply that it's not embedded deeply in his hindquarters to begin with.
But the day I could not reach my Netscape mail account with a Netscape browser (but worked fine with IE), I left it like roadkill.
I use Firefox now, and I advise it to everyone who asks. I also advocate strongly against Outlook, but somehow I get more people to switch browsers than I do email clients.
Navigator 7.2 was too buggy for regular use. Version 8.3.1 is a lot more reliable. It already is Firefox with a different look. The new "Fusion" design of version 8 looks cool in comparison with Firefox' drab look.

Good riddance to that era and that browser. That browser was the biggest pain to code sites for and I'm glad Microsoft killed it to allow its IP to go open source.
Netscape stopped being Netscape as soon as AOL bought them. At that point, the old NetScape became the new FireFox. The war continues, only the names have been changed to protect... something or other, what do you want from me, I'm tired.
Just don't stop the Mozilla, because I need IE >= 8 :D.
I know this may sound like a too specific scenario but on my iBook G4 Netscape works way better than FF (both latest versions): it's much less of a memory and CPU hog and tends to run smoothly without the need of being restarted every 2 hours. I hope FF 3 finally turns into a light and usable on low specced hw browser, until then I'll be compelled to use the buggy, sometimes nasty but light & quick Safari 3.