Netscape Communications (formerly known as Netscape Communications Corporation and commonly known as Netscape) was an American computer services company, best known for its web browser. The browser was once dominant in terms of usage share, but lost most of its share to Internet Explorer during the first browser war. By the end of 2006, the usage share of Netscape browsers had fallen from over 90% in the mid 1990s, to less than 1%.
Netscape traded between 1995 to 2003, subsequently as a subsidiary of AOL LLC, however it has since become a holding company, following Netscape's purchase by AOL in 1998. The brand is still extensively used by AOL, and some current services under the Netscape brand besides the web browser include a discount Internet service provider and a popular social news website. As of December 2007, AOL announced it would no longer be updating the browser.
It was recently announced by Tom Drapeau, director of AOL's Netscape Brand, that the company would stop supporting Netscape software products as of February 1, 2008. The decision has met mixed reactions from many communities, with many arguing that the termination of product support is significantly belated, including Internet security site Security Watch, who stated that a previous trend of infrequent security updates by Netscape cause the browser to become a "security liability", specifically with the 2005-2007 incarnation, Netscape Browser 8. Asa Dotzler, one of Firefox's original programmers, greeted the news with "good riddance" in his blog post, but praised the various members of the Netscape team over the years for enabling the creation of Mozilla in 1998. Others, however, are protesting and petitioning for Netscape's continuation, including online petitions and propaganda to provide vital security fixes to unknowing or loyal users of its software, as well as protection of a well-known brand.