Web site: browser.netscape.com (not active)
Category: Network
Subcategory: Web browsers
Platform: Linux, OS X, Unix, Windows, OS/2
License: Freeware
Interface: GUI
Wikipedia: Netscape Navigator
First release: December 15, 1994
Netscape Navigator – a web browser created by the American company Netscape Communications Corporation.
Netscape Navigator was inspired by the success of the Mosaic web browser, which was co-written by Marc Andreessen, a part-time employee of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois. Initially based on the source code of NCSA Mosaic, but it was rewritten from scratch between 1998 and 2002.
The first version of the program appeared in 1994, the latest, 9th version of the program was released in 2007. On December 28, 2007, AOL (the brand owner) announced the cessation of work on the development of web applications (browser, email client, and newsgroup client). Initially, security patches were to be released by February 2, 2008, but were extended to March 1, 2008.
In version 1.x it was just a web browser.
Version 2.0 added an email client.
Version 4.0 consisted of a wide range of Internet programs – a browser, email client, HTML editor, instant messaging client, and calendar. Therefore, the name “Navigator” didn’t seem appropriate for the entire suite, which was renamed “Communicator.” At the same time, Navigator was also released as a separate program.
From version 6.0, the suite dropped the “Communicator” name.
Versions 6 and 7 of the Netscape suite included:
– Navigator browser
– Messenger email and newsgroup client
– Composer web page editor
– integrated AOL Instant Messenger
– external Radio@Netscape Internet radio application (Windows only).
The browser was available in versions for Windows (in various flavors), GNU/Linux, Unix, and Mac OS. Older versions (up to 4.x) are also available for other operating systems (OS/2).
