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A company that played a major role in
creating worldwide enthusiasm for the internet. It started life in 1994 with
a single product and a handful of programmers. By the time the company went
public just 16 months later it was worth $2 billion. That single product,
the
navigator browser, deserves much of the credit for generating the early
interest in the world wide web. Founded by Marc Andreessen, a whizz-kid
programmer responsible for mosaic, and Jim Clark, the brains behind
Silicon Graphics, Netscape quickly became an important symbol and
inspiration for the burgeoning internet industry.
First indications
that it might struggle to keep its head above water came with Microsoft's
aggressive entry into the browser market in 1995. Netscape, which had a
single source of revenue, was forced to charge for corporate versions of
Navigator. But Microsoft could afford to give its software away, first on
its website and then, much more damagingly, as part of the windows
operating system. What started as a 90% market share had been slowly but
steadily whittled away to less than 10% by the end of 2002.
Netscape was sold to aol in 1999, prompting widespread
concern about the company's future. Its new owner has been criticised for
its failure to reinforce the Netscape brand, and it has further marginalised
the company and its software by supporting and developing other competing
products. |
