That’s rather simplifying history and not the main reason Netscape failed.
Netscape lost because Microsoft used it’s dominant monopoly position to bundle Internet Explorer with windows. By 1999 the writing was already on the wall - IE had already overtaken Netscape market share and was growing rapidly.
The Mozilla project and code base change was a gamble to try and fix the problems. When Microsoft released IE6 2001 they didn’t bother releasing another major version for 6 years as they were so dominant.
So while the code base change was arguably mishandled, at worst it accelerated the decline. Instead the whole story is a poster child for how monopoloes can be used to destroy competition. The anti trust actions in the US and EU came too late for Netscape.
Ironically Microsoft was the receiving end of the same treatment when Google started pushing Chrome via it’s own monopoly in search. They made a better product than the incumbent but they pushed it hard via their website that everyone uses.
Chrome was also shoved down user’s throats by being bundled with all kinds of software. When you downloaded programs from places like SourceForge, Softonic and similar, your download (when you installed it) had “Install Chrome Browser” already checked. If you forgot to uncheck the box, you ended up having to uninstall Chrome. It was the most annoying thing ever.
Huh, weirdly I don’t remember that. I remember having to uncheck a whole bunch of check boxes for browser extensions, toolbars, WinZip pro, etc. But I didn’t remember that chrome was one of those. I’m sure you’re right though.
The monopoly position helped for sure but I think it’s glossed over that at one point Internet Explorer was simply the best web browser on the market. It’s was only after years of mismanagement by Microsoft that it gained the reputation it has now. But there was a point in the late 90s early 2000s where Netscape was a super buggy mess and Internet Explorer was the best browser on the market.
That was true for Chrome as well, when that first hit the market it was a light and amazing browser. There were a lot of technology savvy early adopters for Chrome.
But there was a point in the late 90s early 2000s where Netscape was a super buggy mess and Internet Explorer was the best browser on the market.
Lemme guess, one was super buggy and the other the best browser on websites using non-standard functionality of the latter.
non-standard functionality of the latter.
My guy. In the 90’s ALL browsers were non-standard. Even at the protocol level.
http/0.9 - 1991
http/1.0 - 1996
http/1.1 - 1997
html/1.0 - 1991
html/2.0 - 1995 revised in 1996, and 97.
html/3.0 - 1997
html/4.0 - 1997 revised in 1998, 99, and 2000.
Then comes all the add-ons like flash, shockwave, etc… Nothing was standard at this time-frame. We threw everything possible into browsers. Toolbars for literally everything (I remember even having winamp controls in my browser).
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Evolution_of_HTTP
Between 1991-1995, these were introduced with a try-and-see approach. A server and a browser would add a feature and see if it got traction.
Literally sites and browsers would just implement stuff just to implement and see if it became used.
A lot of recent times (2010’s mostly) has been back peddling the mad rush of just shoving EVERYTHING into browsers. Now I actually fear we’re going to far though… With google removing useful backend stuff for plugins and such. I just hope Firefox never follows suit.
