Less than 12 hours from now, the early giant in web browsers will be given its final resting place. On March 1st, 2008, AOL will end official support for Netscape, thus rendering it pretty much dead to the world. Used by over 90% of web users in the mid 1990’s, the browser has seen a steady drop in usage to less than 1% today. The death blow for Netscape was the bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows by Microsoft in the mid 1990’s. The intense struggle between Netscape and Microsoft during the 1990’s for browser market share is known as the Browser War.
Though Netscape itself is headed to its eternal resting place, the Netscape DNA still lives. In the late 1990’s, Netscape open-sourced their next generation layout engine. This new engine eventually became known as the Gecko layout engine. Today Gecko powers a number of browsers, most notably Firefox, Flock, and Camino.
If you’re really curious about the Gecko engine, Netscape, or Camino, check out the below video. The video features Mike Pinkerton, one of the Camino developers who worked at Netscape. He shares a lot of inside information about what went on during the browser war and the open-sourcing of the Gecko layout engine.
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