Eich convinced his boss that a browser needs a scripting language, and in 1995, Javascript was born. Javascript was created at Netscape by Brendan Eich in 1995 as a companion language to Java. Today, Javascript is among the most-widely used programming languages out there. Montulli even holds a patent for his innovation. He wanted the websites to remember the users who had visited the page earlier, and hence, cookies were born. Although Lou Montulli, 23 at that time, invented the cookies we love to hate, Montulli and Netscape’s intentions were not to track users, but to solve the memory problem of websites. Over the years, Firebox has emerged as one of the best alternatives to Google Chrome.įurther, the concept of cookies too came from Netscape. In fact, in 1998, when Mozilla was formed, it was funded by Netscape. This led to the creation of Mozilla and its Firefox browser.
“By giving away the source code for future versions, we can ignite the creative energies of the entire net community and fuel unprecedented levels of innovation in the browser market,” Jim Barksdale, then CEO of Netscape had said. While at the cusp of being acquired by AOL, co-founder Andreessen publicly released the source code for Netscape Navigator 4.0. Four years later, AOL pulled the plug on support for the Netscape web browser. In 1998, AOL acquired Netscape and disbanded it in 2003. The tech giant launched Internet Explorer in August 1995 and thus began the browser war. However, Netscape had a very powerful competitor – Microsoft. Stock valuations soared on the first day of trading. The Wall Street Journal described Netscape’s IPO as one of the most stunning debuts in Wall Street history.
Within months of its release in 1994, Netscape had nearly 75% of the browser market.Ī year later, the company went public. Clark and Andreessen realised the potential of the web and the need for a tool to access and navigate the web. Netscape became the first company to capitalise on it with founders Jim Clark and Marc Andreessen seen as revolutionaries.
When the world wide web was opened to the public in 1991, it changed the world. Netscape ended up disbanded, but it did leave a legacy behind. However, the company failed to live up to expectations and despite a stellar IPO, failed to compete with the likes of Microsoft. Netscape was probably one of the most important companies of its time and if you had access to a computer and the web in the early 90s, chances are you were using a Netscape browser. In 1994, a press release read: “Netscape Communications Corporation today announced that it is offering its newly introduced Netscape(TM) network navigator free to users via the Internet.” That was when Netscape released its first commercial browser for free.
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