The 28th of December came bearing ill news for the Netscape users. That was the day that AOL decided to discontinue support for the legendary browser. The actual date that Netscape will be left to age gracefully and die is the first of February 2008, and if you look at the calendar, it's just around the corner.
The reason they just gave it up was that "AOL's
focus on transitioning to an ad-supported web business leaves little room for the size of investment needed to get the Netscape browser to a point many of its fans expect it to be. Given AOL's current business focus and the success the Mozilla Foundation has had in developing critically-acclaimed products, we feel it's the right time to end development of Netscape branded browsers, hand the reins fully to Mozilla and encourage Netscape users to adopt Firefox," as Tom Drapeau's announcement on the official Netscape blog went.
The way I understood it at the time, there was "one Mozilla under the flag, (with) indivisible audience" and so on. Not any more, Richard Klein posted on the same blog a note that Flock is also a good alternative to Netscape and that pretty much took me by surprise. What is this "Flock" I hear about? Apparently it "is a web browser that combines all of the advantages of Firefox with the addition of social integration. If you are looking for your next browser and are interested in Firefox with social integration, give Flock a try," he says.
What does that mean, that it is a combination between a browser and a social network? Why would somebody even consider that when there are sites like MySpace and Facebook available? Many of the old Netscape users are willing to give it a try, though, for old times' sake or just because it was recommended by the creators of their favorite browser. Is that enough for you?
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