Netscape

Netscape Communications Corporation, originally founded as Mosaic Communications Corporation on April 4, 1994, was a pivotal company in the popularization of the World Wide Web. The company was the brainchild of Dr. James H. Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics, and Marc Andreessen, who had co-developed NCSA Mosaic, the first widely-used graphical web browser, while at the University of Illinois. Clark, seeking his next venture, connected with the 22-year-old Andreessen, and together they recruited many of the original Mosaic programmers to build a commercial-grade browser. Their venture was backed by Kleiner Perkins, and in January 1995, they brought in James L. Barksdale as CEO to spearhead the company's growth.

The company's primary business was developing and selling internet and intranet software. Its flagship product, the Netscape Navigator web browser, was released in late 1994 and quickly dominated the market, capturing over 90% share by the mid-1990s. While the browser was free for non-commercial use, which fueled its rapid adoption, Netscape's revenue model was centered on selling high-priced server software to enterprises looking to build and manage websites and internal networks (intranets). This strategy was successful, with corporate sales accounting for about 80% of revenue in 1996. The company also generated revenue by licensing its browser to hardware manufacturers and internet service providers who bundled it with their products. Netscape's sensational IPO in August 1995, which saw its market capitalization reach $2.2 billion on the first day, is often credited with igniting the dot-com boom of the 1990s.

Netscape Navigator transformed the online experience from a text-based, command-line interface to a user-friendly, graphical one. Key technological contributions developed by the company include JavaScript, the now-ubiquitous client-side scripting language created by Brendan Eich; HTTP cookies, for session management; and the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol, which enabled secure online transactions and e-commerce. The browser was known for its rapid innovation, introducing features like frames, a plug-in architecture, and an integrated email client in later versions known as Netscape Communicator. However, the company's dominance was challenged by Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which was bundled for free with the Windows operating system, sparking the "first browser war." Facing immense competition, Netscape was acquired by America Online (AOL) in a deal announced in November 1998 and valued at $4.2 billion. In a move that would have a lasting legacy, Netscape open-sourced its browser code in 1998, leading to the creation of the Mozilla Organization, which later developed the Firefox browser. AOL eventually ceased development and support for the Netscape browser on March 1, 2008.

Keywords: web browser, browser wars, Mosaic, Marc Andreessen, Jim Clark, JavaScript, SSL, Mozilla, AOL, dot-com boom