Nowadays, the browser wars are primarily dominated by Google's Chrome, with most alternatives being based on the same Chromium engine (barring Mozilla Firefox and Apple's Safari). But 29 years ago, the internet was just starting to become a thing, and leading the charge was a browser called Netscape Navigator. Netscape Navigator 1.0 launched on December 15th, 1994, and it quickly became the most popular browser in the world.

It was the first commercially developed web browser, and it forever changed how people would use their computers. It enjoyed a few years in the spotlight, though it was ultimately discontinued in 2009.

The start of the internet era

Giving everyone access to the world wide web

Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark created Netscape Navigator, but it was largely based on the Mosaic browser, which Andreessen and his team had helped develop with a team at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois. In fact, Netscape was initially going to be called Mosaic, but since the University of Illinois held copyrights on the name and code, the browser had to be built from scratch with a different name. Mosaic was the first browser to be designed for the common user, but Netscape was the first one designed to be commercialized.

Back then, browsers weren't really expected to be free, but Netscape Navigator 1.0 was made free for non-commercial use, though there were plans to monetize it at first. Version 1.0 was a paid commercial version, while 1.0N was free and nearly identical, but would ask users to pay up if they felt like they had tried the browser enough. Eventually, the browser was available to download free of charge, but it could be bought in stores on a floppy disk.

Netscape became very popular very quickly, thanks to the user-friendly interface and the addition of the SSL protocol, which added a layer of security. It encrypted sensitive information submitted by a user, allowing that information to stay between the user and the server. SSL was huge, and it's the foundation of TLS (Transport Layer Security), an encryption protocol still used in modern browsers. This enabled companies to do business online, which gave everyone financial incentive to support the internet.

One thing worth noting about Netscape is that it was initially developed with the codename Mozilla. That name was eventually given to a dragon-like mascot the company used on its website. The Nozilla name would later be used for the software community that's now responsible for developing the Firefox browser.

The browser wars

Netscape couldn't keep up

As Netscape became increasingly popular, it eventually hit 80% market share, and when the company went public in 1995, the IPO was met with huge success. But that success attracted the attention of Microsoft, who at this time was fairly established as the go-to choice for PC operating systems with Windows. In August of 1995, Microsoft launched Internet Explorer 1.0, which was interestingly also based on the same Mosaic project, except Microsoft had licensed it from a company called Spyglass, which had agreed with the University of Illinois to license Mosaic.

This kickstarted the first-ever browser war, pitting Netscape against Microsoft, but it was a war Netscape couldn't win. Microsoft had something Netscape couldn't have: the ability to bundle its browser with its operating system. While it wasn't immediately available with all versions of Windows, Internet Explorer was included in some expansion packs for Windows 95, and it eventually was bundled with Windows outright. Microsoft also made deals with numerous companies to include Internet Explorer on their PCs out of the box, even forcing Apple to bundle IE with Mac computers for a while, and even ISPs were prompted to give Internet Explorer to customers. Microsoft had leverage that Netscape couldn't match, and Netscape Navigator's popularity plummeted, especially once Internet Explorer caught up in terms of features.

Later on, when Netscape Navigator 4.x was competing with Internet Explorer 5.0, it also became apparent that Netscape's browser couldn't keep up with more modern pages that featured lots of images and JavaScript content. Ultimately, the browser fell behind in popularity and gave way to Internet Explorer, which dominated the market for years after that.

Netscape's demise and legacy

Selling to AOL and paving the way for Mozilla

After losing a massive amount of market share, Netscape was forced to sell to AOL, who kept the Netscape Navigator browser around until 2008, when support for the last version of the browser ended. It's not exactly surprising, as most people would have never heard of Netscape at that time. However, before the sale, Marc Andreessen had released the source code for Netscape Navigator 4.0 onto the web, and this prompted the community to carry on the development of a new browser that was more open and transparent than Microsoft's: Mozilla Firefox.

The web browser market has shifted significantly since these days, with Google later entering the game with Chrome and using similarly pushy tactics for getting onto all the laptops and PCs it could, prompting another browser war and one that Microsoft would lose. But even as the browser dominance shifted hands and Internet Explorer eventually got discontinued, Firefox has kept going all along, and it's the only browser on Windows that isn't based on the Chromium engine that also powers Chrome.

Still shaping the internet today

Even without Mozilla, Netscape pioneered how we see and use the internet today. Not only did it envision a world where everyone could access the internet's content, but the implementation of SSL made things like online shopping possible. It's wild to think that these ideas were there before I was born and are still so important today. Even if the name itself isn't well-known by most, the impact of Netscape's creation is undeniable.