The Rise and Fall of Netscape - The Browser That Once Ruled the Web

[@GratiaCountryman]

I actually lived through the Browser Wars. I was on team Netscape. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

[@wombat10002000]

Same here. I still use SeaMonkey.

[@benn454]

Same. Now I use Firefox.

[@wombat10002000]

@Jonathon doe Altavista had an actual web browser, like IE and Netscape? I thought it was just a search engine.

[@DeepfriedBaby]

team Opera

[@TheLionAndTheLamb777]

Netscape Navigator, then Mozilla, then Firefox.

[@monsterguyx]

Back when the internet still felt more utopian than dystopian.

[@StevenTorrey]

It is valuable source of information/news and entertainment. It is also a criminal's best friend.

[@athopi]

Napster ftw!!!

[@Nick-kc6bt]

It's still feels utopian, with bullshit going around.

[@seanc.5310]

Yep it was super exciting in the early 90's!

[@elizabethconklin9011]

Good times, good times. I came on line in 1994. We used to joke that they had not figured out how to make money off of it. Definitely dystopian, these days.

[@23Daves]

I'll always have a deep fondness for Netscape just because it reminds me of the earliest days of being online - that animated "outer space" logo made me feel as if I was doing something bold, futuristic and adventurous.

[@11bravo1789]

Ditto

[@cs512tr]

well said, great memories

[@t.g.9782]

Napstr ☝🏼

[@JayPistol2000]

Y’all probably born after the year 2000 pipe down 😂😂💯

[@gurgy3]

It reminds me of patiently waiting while hi res images of boobs loaded one line at a time.

[@Peter_Morris]

I started college in the fall of 1994 at Georgia Tech. I went from having no internet access to an Ethernet port in my dorm room and direct access to the internet. It sure was a wild time. Things changed so fast, we went from logging in to a Unix server with telnet and using elm and pine to check email to having a front end that pulled it all off the server automatically in just a couple of years. Not to mention the hilarious development of Real Player and the realization that one day soon we’d be watching video over the internet in much better quality.

[@Blox117]

yep, one day hopefully

[@diggernash1]

Started in '93. We laid out a 10 base-T network in the dorm to play doom...

[@BabySkinCondom]

I had doom and doom 2 when they released and i still play megawads for them to this day

[@TheHsan22]

In the mid 90s I worked in a team that had a small closed network and as it was a product devt facility everyone’s PC had grunt and good monitors. At 5pm each afternoon it was Doom time and it was a real hoot to battle it out with ~10 others. One of the guys developed a Doom landscape based on the work facility…. As long as I worked there I remember walking through doors (in real life) expecting someone to jump out with a BFG and blow me away.

[@gurgy3]

I went there in 2001 and they were still making freshman learn how to use pine to read emails and putty to upload assignments to ftp sites. The IT department there was a bunch of pretentious pricks. My gf went to UGA and they had full graphical html interfaces for email.

[@Aeimos]

I started off with Netscape in 1995. Watching the animated icon as the page loaded was some of the most fun I've had.

[@eminusipi]

About the same time that I did. Now using Firefox almost exclusively. Remember when AOL would send you free floppy disks that you could re-purpose ?

[@johnyjoe2k]

Microsoft still hasn't learned though. Every couple of updates, my default browser is "accidentally" switched to Edge.

[@li_tsz_fung]

microsoft don't care about being fined.

[@quatjohn4375]

My default browser hasn't changed. A few times Google Chrome has tried to slip in there in practically every install I've ever done but my default browser has been the same since I first installed it

[@zank8470]

But I'm on 2004 update and Chrome is still default?

[@MarvMavro]

New Edge built on Chromium is actually good

[@awesomeferret]

But now it's skinned and customized Chrome, so it's not a stretch at all to argue that Edge is better.

[@sambone8213]

I was a 90's kid and living through the rise of the internet (roughly 94-99) was purely magical.

[@dougpayto6152]

When were you born?

[@titaniumex2556]

@@dougpayto6152 probably 1994

[@stratafm]

I was a 90s kid, too, and I agree, it was a magical time. The wild west days of the internet.

[@souljastation5463]

In my country to browse the internet is still called "to navigate" because of Netscape Navigator, why is it "to surf" in the US? It doesn't make much sense (was there ever a "Mozilla Surfer"?).

[@titaniumex2556]

I have waterfox, Google Chrome 49 (bc it has flash) and the last version of Seamonkey to support Flash rip in peace flash 1999-2020 you will forever be missed

[@truely7744]

I really like these documentary-style videos, thank you.

[@MichaelMJD]

Glad to hear it!

[@truely7744]

@@MichaelMJD yeah dude, you should make more of these, very entertaining!

[@theretromillennial]

Agreed. I like your content, but this was probably my favorite video so far.

[@CoreyDeWalt]

They're the best!

[@alexander1989x]

Yep, and sorry to say, but these videos are much better than your modded programs installations.

[@rdlmm]

I love 90s, and the gif icon of N with the stars moving in the background will be forever in my mind. 😌

[@TechnoSparks]

Idk but your comment made me tear up. That gif icon is awesome and very memorable

[@Pondimus_Maximus]

Those were the days. 🖖😀

[@energymc22]

Wasn't it later replaced with a rotating lighthouse?

[@fixer1140]

Ahhhh those were the days, Netscape, Winamp, ICQ and Napster. I need a time machine guys

[@josiahstearns9615]

A while back I actually found myself thinking ~ “whatever happened to that old browser we used to use before Firefox and Chrome.” Googled a couple keywords that thought would set me in the right direction and sure enough it was Netscape. Plus I’ll never forget when one of my older sisters friends came over to our house, way back when, and was explaining this new program about how you can create your own username and set your away message and create a profile….had NO IDEA what she was talking about at the time - but a few years later I was in the midst of creating my own AIM account. GOSH! I miss those days. Sure, your could read a whole chapter in a book accounting for time it would take for a webpage to load… but I would love to relive those days. Playing online arcade games like Taxi, Nobby Nuss, Tony’s Teddy….. or even disc games like Frogger, Deer Hunter, Need for Speed - Porsche Unleashed, Age of Empires, and Hover (Yea! Hover! - the game where you’d track down and capture all the flags) Those were good times. Long before Google and Facebook ran the show and gaming is primarily on consoles and mobile apps (although I know PC gaming is still pretty prevalent). Love walking down memory lane!!!

[@RosebudKane41]

I remember showing my Third Grade teacher how to use Netscape when I was 9 (in 1999)😂 Was one of like five students in my class that had Internet at home.

[@Patrick-tf1ri]

NICE!!!

[@witheeeeeerx]

Good

[@patprop74]

lol at 31, you are probably still the youngest one here :P

[@veltonmeade1057]

I am surprised that there were four other students besides you. That seems to be a lot for that time.

[@VietboyGamerUSA]

u rich kid

[@DonLekei]

One big issue that you missed was that in 1996, Netscape began going after ISPs aggressively. If an ISP even so much as helped a customer download Netscape (which would have been free if the customer knew how to do it), Netscape would go after the ISP for $99 per customer. Microsoft provided ISPs with a program called IEAK (Internet Explorer Administration Kit) to allow them to re-brand Internet Explorer with their own icon and automated setup for the ISP for no charge (other than support if they needed someone (eg. me) to help them set it up).

[@attack0nmem0ry]

I honestly can"t tell if the warm, fuzzy feelz going on at the moment are from heart-felt nostalgia, or a sign of how old I'm actually getting. Lol. I remember using Netscape to enjoy the good ol' days of Nintendo Power over the world's shottiest 56.6k V90 dial-up modem ... "up hill - both ways, in the snow". Ahhh, memories. This was an amazing video, MJD. Honestly, this has been a solid WEEK for your videos, man! Glad to be a subscriber 'n such. :cheers:

[@MichaelMJD]

Thanks so much Shaun! Glad to hear that these videos bring back good memories

[@jasonblalock4429]

Same here. Although something kept nagging me, that looked "wrong" about the footage. Then I finally realized, it's because these old programs were being shown on a modern high-res widescreen monitor. To *really* get the 1997 Netscape Communicator experience, it needs to be on a 1024x768 monitor, with the button bars taking up 1/3 of the screen. And probably with Bonzi Buddy installed. ;-)

[@InssiAjaton]

Ah, the memories! I started visiting a handful of computer club and some other bulletin boards before the internet access. Modems on my ordinary phone line. They spanned 300 bps, then 1200, 2400, 9600, 14400 and finally 56000 bps. Computers started with a self assembled one operating on an enhanced CP/M derivative called ZCPR3. Then DOS 3.3 through 6.32 on various desk top as well as some laptop units. Netscape was used at my work, but I am not sure if I ever had it at home. IE came to me with Windows 98. But since then I mostly used Opera and Firefox. Lately with the addition of smart phones and iPad plus MacBook Pro, Chrome and Safari have come to my repertoire as well. All that has included hundreds of updates.

[@parkerbohnn]

That sound to me just mean't who's the next f*ckwit to GETZ kicked upside the head on usenet.

[@edregan3025]

Man, I remember having a 56k modem but the fastest it would go was 27k on off peak hrs.

[@Santoshlv426]

The loss of Netscape was and is a tragedy. I have fond memories of using Netscape as "my escape" back in university

[@encycl07pedia-]

No, it's not. Netscape got too big for their britches, got lazy, and made a sub-par browser. As soon as there was real competition, they panicked (for good reason) and fell behind.

[@plawson8577]

@@encycl07pedia- This. Netscape was super buggy.

[@MK-of7qw]

Ah yes. That's the version my friends and I referred to as "Nutscrape"

[@InfernosReaper]

@@encycl07pedia- By the early 2000s, I found myself using Internet Explore on my Mac, because Netscape wasn't keeping up with the times and was running rather poorly much of the time.

[@2009jeffpatriot]

I LOVED Netscape. It blew away everything else out there at the time.

[@plawson8577]

It sucked. It was pretty terrible.

[@ChantingInTheDark]

@@plawson8577 - But everything else was worse. That’s the point.

[@melissaattaway7426]

Yep. Netscape was a game changer for me. That and the introduction/invention of DSL internet which was what we got Netscape with. Not having to use dial up anymore was amazing. By today’s standards, DSL may not be great but it was absolutely amazing at the time. It only took about 2 minutes to load up a page instead of ten minutes plus like we were used to. And you could simultaneously use the house phone!!!

[@plawson8577]

@@ChantingInTheDark IE was actually more stable. Netscape was extremely buggy and unstable.

[@ChantingInTheDark]

@@plawson8577 - I meant compared to Mosaic

[@FeedScrn]

I loved my Netscape Browser.... and it's beautiful logo. Using it kind of gave me a feeling like I was in control of this vast ocean going vessel, or 21st century very complicated machine.... charting the waters of the unknown internet and all of its surprises. - The name Explorer does not have the same connotation.

[@plawson8577]

Netscape was pretty awful. Lol. It was shockingly primitive,unstable and clunky.

[@FeedScrn]

@@plawson8577 - You're the first person that mentioned this. I never, and no one I know ever had a problem with it.

[@sinisterone4673]

Well put

[@moneymatters4634]

To me expoler feels better

[@encycl07pedia-]

@@FeedScrn I tried downloading and using it in 2007 for nostalgia. @Plawson8577 is correct: it was buggy junk. Back in 1998 when you just had to load tables and images, it was fine, but so was every other web browser.

[@feiticeir0]

The moment that I still remember when browsing and using the Internet for the first time - I was in my teens - was the Netscape throbber that showed a meteor shower when loading the page ! It was gorgeous and it stuck in my mind !!

[@byronwatkins2565]

The primary cause of the abrupt fall in Netscape's sales in 1998 was the intentional incompatibility between Windows 98 and Netscape Navigator. Microsoft explicitly crippled Windows 98 so that Navigator would not execute correctly. Part of this involved embedding Internet Explorer routines into the OS kernel. THIS was the ultimate cause of the Justice Department's suit and the $1M/day fines for non-compliance.

[@roguedalek900]

If the DOJ had followed through on the monopoly lawsuit the world would be much different today

[@ddoumeche]

it was the fact than Netscape Navigator 4.0 was buggy as hell and crashing at the time, even if i loved it. It could not render stylesheet correctly and developing page for it was a nightmare. QA was very poor in that company and it killed it. Who would even buy a Netscape Application Server for 20000$ when you had to stop applications to redeploy you web pages, when you could do a cgi script or make hot replace with Windows NT web server ?

[@byronwatkins2565]

@@ddoumeche Internet Explorer had its share of (different) bugs as well. Its only redeeming quality, really, was that it cost no extra money to PC users. Microsoft also skirted (perhaps infringed) several of Netscape's copyrights to offer a graphical web browser at all. But the malicious and intentional act of designing Windows 98 to be incompatible with established software was quite vindictive against their own customers who "had the gall" to purchase Navigator instead of tolerating THEIR buggy program.

[@ddoumeche]

@@byronwatkins2565 Internet Explorer was less buggy and installed by default, and Netscape was working on Windows 98 as on Mac : crashing too often Because they changed the developer team between release 3 and 4 .. .that's why it was rewritten from scratch when it became Mozilla

[@plawson8577]

Not correct at all. Netscape was never firmware updated, and JeanJean is right. The program had to be rewritten from scratch. Save your Conspiracies about Microsoft for somewhere else.

[@MaddogJones]

Wow, what a trip down memory lane... Nice little documentary, I was working in a totally non-tech related field in 1995 and my roommate had bought a new PC. He was in the navy and had been gone for the summer on a tour through the Gulf. Long story short I got really familiar with Netscape, so much so I left my job went back to school and got a job as an internet services manager... Thanks Netscape and Brad for changing my life way back when.

[@pcjedi240]

This was my favorite browser as well, one feature I loved that no other browser has done to this day (that I know of) was the bookmark cleaner. It scanned the web addresses of all your bookmarks and reported back which ones no longer had their page available online and allowed you to delete them all at once keeping your bookmarks tidy of dead url ones

[@Vassileva85]

I will forever miss Netscape, it was a fantastic little browser and it made that slow internet speed a little more tolerable with the loading animations.

[@panqueque445]

An online game service for the N64? That would've been amazing. Like an improved version of the Sega Channel.

[@WildVoltorb]

japan actually got an online service for the 64DD

[@JudgeSim2]

@@WildVoltorb n64 can barely run singleplayer games at 30 fps. aint no way it can do online

[@M50A1]

@@JudgeSim2 Imagine

[@plawson8577]

You forgot Saturn NetLink.

[@NopWorks]

Google should be slapped with a lawsuit for its behavior in my opinion; From slowing KZbin down on non-Chromium browser to constantly nagging Edge users to switch to Chrome all the time, "No, thanks" after "No, thanks", the nag just won't stop, and it's just suspicious.

[@SkyeWeeb]

It's not just nag, they spy on essentially the whole world population, along with Facebook, which is DEFINITELY suspicious

[@Karmy.]

Like how are they gonna go after Microsoft for antitrust violations but not Google

[@TheFakeVIP]

NopWORKS Totally agree. Firefox needs to gain market share if we want the w3c and the web as a whole from being anywhere close to non-monopolistic.

[@TLuigi003]

@@Karmy. restrictions are way less hard nowadays

[@SnowyRVulpix]

Microsoft Edge is a virus, so if you don’t want chrome, get firefox.

[@kornfreak78]

Netscape was the first browser I ever used way back in 1995. I miss those days... I think back on them fondly. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

[@dynomitejones]

My dad worked for Compuserve and later Netscape- from the inside, AOL was running it into the ground. The first wave of leadership that made AOL one of the fastest growing companies was scalped by other companies at a rapid rate. Only to have the upper management that came in to replace them knew very little about how their own technology worked but wanted to flex their management degrees with endless meaningless tasks and busy work and flummoxed any innovation out of fear of change or general ignorance. Eventually the ceiling collapsed, and the majority of the workforce was laid off, my dad included. Those were hard times..

[@nondeplume6106]

Wow! Thanks for sharing.

[@zadock6370]

I question more and more on whether 90% of all companies that died, did so because of their own incompetency and nothing more. this is a very good reason to NEVER sell your company under ANY circumstance.

[@luke_court]

Kinda funny how Microsoft gets investigated for bundling internet explorer into Windows but Apple can bundle safari into MacOS without anyone batting an eye Edit: my point has been mainly disproven now. Thank you everyone for sharing your opinions, I hope you are well in covid times

[@SEGACD32XMODEL1]

Microsoft with Bill Gates being cocky and competing with everyone. Google is the same way now.

[@Marcelos8686]

yeah but Safari didn't get that much market share

[@jasonblalock4429]

In the mid/late 90s, nobody was buying Macs except in a handful of niche markets. Basically, no one cared what Apple did. On the other hand, Microsoft owned something like 90% of the OS market at that time, making them a defacto monopoly. Also, *numerous* 90s companies could quite credibly accuse Microsoft of harming them with anti-competitive practices, which is something else Apple was never seriously accused of back then. So Microsoft attracted the attention of regulators, while Apple did not. . And that's mostly still true today. iPhones are trendy, but Apple isn't even the #1 brand in terms of smartphone market share. They're #3, iirc. Likewise, Macs still have

[@philtkaswahl2124]

You want something funnier? The 2001 movie Antitrust, with its villain a thinly veiled Bill Gates running a thinly veiled Microsoft, was heavily sponsored by Apple jumping on the whole Microsoft antitrust bandwagon, with copious product placement. Online videos of behind the scenes interviews about the movie were even in Apple's proprietary Quicktime format, cheerfully unaware of the irony of that fact with said movie's supposedly pro-open source message. Fast forward to now and Apple is getting hit by antitrust lawsuits for doing anticompetitive things like or even beyond Microsoft.

[@richardsequeirateixeira]

Microsoft didn't just get investigated over Internet Explorer. It was series of other events too. For example OS/2, Lotus Smartsuite, and, WordPerfect, these were competing applications/operating systems that were in direct competition with Microsoft.

[@xXBlueSheepXx]

You're really improving your editing skills with these retrospective videos. They're always a treat to see. Keep it up with the great content!

[@MichaelMJD]

Thanks so much : )

[@chumley307]

As a web designer in the early 2000's, I despised Netscape. It was so poor at browser cross-compatibility. I had to code so many workarounds to get things to look correct in Netscape. Thus, I celebrated when the final nail went into Netscape's coffin.

[@zzoinks]

I thought that was internet explorers issue

[@chumley307]

@@zzoinks You're right. As Netscape continued its death spiral, IE began following in Netscape's footsteps with cross-compatibility issues as other browsers (namely Firefox and Chrome) rendered code much better.

[@damianjblack]

@@chumley307 Firefox Forever

[@itinerantpatriot1196]

I remember when this guy who lived alongside me in the Air Force barracks in 1986 came home with a Commodore 64 and I liked the Micro League baseball and Trucker games he bought along with it so much I went out and got one myself. My buddy was way higher on the tech spectrum though because he went out and got this thing called a modem. I wasn't that interested, especially after getting a Nintendo gaming system to go along with my fancy computer. We had many nights of fierce competition and not a small amount of alcohol consumption as we had guys playing golf on the TV and battling the elements in the baseball and football sims running on the Commodore. You had to load four different discs to get the application up but once it was rocking we were jamming. In the meantime our buddy down the hall was still messing around that modem thing. He got out after his hitch was up and said he was going to learn how to write code or something. Now, he may have gotten rich but we could all out drink him and kick his butt at Nintendo golf so we had that going for us. The good old days of computing fun.

[@jeff-m6f]

Great memories

[@MatthewReiser123]

Worked for Netscape 1996-1998 as a Systems Engineer in S.Calif, configuring server products to help do Enterprise-level software deals. Exciting but very hectic. Moving fast, with fun/smart colleagues.

[@briannanimal2174]

i’ve been meaning to look into what happened with Netscape! thanks for making this video!!

[@tylerpestell]

So much nostalgia! I kinda miss how chaotic and rapidly things changed during that time.

[@MaskedGEEK]

This brought me back as I had just finished school (Windows 95 was just released the year before) and Netscape was at its height. Microsoft logic laid bare: buys Netscape to fight Google, updates Edge to run on Chromium built from Google Chrome. That's like going to bed with your ex just to spite their lover.

[@MondySpartan]

How the turn tables.

[@chonkydog6262]

pretty sure google chrome was made from chromium first, but your point is still valid

[@oopruh]

I don’t have a ex.

[@Ordlnary_Gamer]

chrome was built on chromium

[@brarautorepairs]

I love this. I was a child and Netscape was our default browser. I never thought about why it went away. I just assumed it becomes Firefox.

[@bkoldies]

That's what technically happed

[@SteveHencye]

I remember Netscape in it's later years. Born in 93 AOL was king when I first ventured into the internet. I remember clicking the "log on" button and being able to go do a load of dishes while waiting to connect. If I recall my grandma used Netscape for her email well into the 2000s.

[@hugogoncalves77]

The first browser I used back in 1996, and still using it's spiritual successor Firefox to this very day!

[@HardwareFahrrad]

Firefox is the best. Change my mind

[@missingno2401]

i won't change your mind because firefox is the best

[@catriona_drummond]

The actual spiritual successor is Seamonkey, not Firefox

[@hugogoncalves77]

@@catriona_drummond Yes. of course as it is a full suite and not only a browser!

[@MrYushead]

My FireFox wont load for me so.... R.I.P

[@DavidWonn]

Netscape was THE browser to have in the 1990s, as it was available on nearly every major platform from Windows 3.1 to 95 to NT, as well as Macintosh and UNIX. I was fortunate to have free access to it through school. The 3.x and 4.x versions are likely the ones that most still remember today, though they don’t work so well with today’s Internet as they did decades ago, so it won’t do proper justice if you try it now. The 4.x series bundled a lot of things from AOLIM to WinAmp, as well as a free HTML editor and mailbox, very handy for POP3 accounts. It did nearly everything I needed for a browser suite, and I was one of the last holdouts using this as my primary browser until Phoenix/FireBird/FireFox and Chrome later met most of those needs. Microsoft may have won the battle in the early 2000s through their questionable tactics, but they lost the war by becoming too complacent and missing the boat for the modern era that is mostly navigated via phones and tablets now.

[@peterschmidt9942]

Well they basically gave up. Edge is based on Chrome nowadays. I still don't use it!

[@OrionBlitz256]

With a tear in my eye I looked at Firefox and said "I knew your grandad, we were friends".

[@futuregohan4837]

Firefox: I Know Dear User It Was A Shame That Had To Happen But The Good Thing Is That I Was Born As An Result

[@bobbrown8661]

Back in the day we had nicknames for these browsers: Netscape - Nutscrape. (Due to the sheer amount of bloatware) Internet explorer - infernal exploder (due to its instability in its early days).

[@dianavespid937]

Now we call Microsoft Products “Glorified Spyware”

[@Jvalde2021]

I wasn't around for Netscape but my dad told me that he used Netscape on Windows 98 to download music off Napster. He told me that all of his friends were amazed when they heard he downloaded music off the internet.

[@D.G.M.]

In 2002 my first PC came with a CD where one of the apps was Netscape 4. It was old enough to cause some problems, so I didn't use it much, then I probably used IE, but soon after that I started using Mozilla.

[@blainepalmerza]

Awesome video, Michael!

[@MichaelMJD]

Thanks!

[@Haku1990]

This video hits hard, makes me realize how old i am getting seeing how old Netscape, it was my first browser as a kid. Its thanks to videos like this the next group of people coming up will remember such things as Netscape, people should never forget where they came from never forget the past, never forget Netscape.

[@DeadPixel1105]

Back in high school in the late 90s-early 2000s, all the school PCs had Netscape Navigator on them. That was the school's preferred browser, I guess. I forgot it even existed until I saw this video. Nostalgia.

[@therealdiputs3119]

I actually worked for a outsource company 'Stream Intl' in 95 and in 96 i was part of the netscape tech support team for over a year, then i got xferred to Gateway 2000. This video made me remember the old days. Ty for the video.

[@carlospulpo4205]

I remember signing up for my first ISP, the question they asked if I would like DOS or Windows diskettes for the installer. I accepted the DOS version OFC. It added the PPP settings to your autoexec.bat and config.sys and made most games unplayable because the memory used by the network TSRs . This brings back the memories of using NNTP more then the browser because most of the good stuff was still in newsgroups at this point in time.

[@brokenelectronics3665]

Thank you for this. Back in the day, I was part of the Netscape Champions support team.

[@robburgess4556]

Then we probably know each other. Cheers!

[@Huwitto]

Can you try installing this on Windows 10?

[@MichaelMJD]

That sounds like a fun idea! Thanks for the suggestion : )

[@davesomeone4059]

windows 95 emulation software. VMware will work.

[@meg2249]

Man, I’ll never forget the very rare treat of going to the computer lab in elementary school ( we got to go maybe 4 times total in a year) the teal background screen, the edutainment games of the early 90’s, and Netscape on the screen…

[@zigisamblak]

Great video! 2 facts I think should have been included: Firefox was called Firebird originally but changed because of a trademark of the same name. More interestingly: Microsoft had a big Internet Explorer logo statue delivered to and installed on the front of the Netscape company, then they threw it over and had their Mozilla statue stand over it. I started browsing the web with Netscape and I use Firefox to this day.

[@sheenaQuarto83]

Awesome video Michael and bringing back Nostalgic memories of using Netscape at school

[@krishiyer3990]

Unforgettable Netscape. I used to create web pages easily, upload to server. Not just a web browser it was much more.

[@therealricol03]

Excellent video, Michael! You keep improving with each video that passes! I'm impressed!

[@peterschmidt9942]

Great Documentary on the history of this fantastic browser. About the only time I've used IE is when I first connected to the Web in 1995 on Win95. It soon became apparent IE was garbage and quickly got a hold of Netscape, which was miles ahead at this time. I can remember when Netscape split into Communicator, as I was already using Netscape Composer separately for creating HTML pages (then they bundled them into Communicator). It was a nice graphical way of creating pages in the day, but you also had to massage the HTML in a text editor to clean it up and make it efficient. Nowadays, website creators use other editors and don't worry about transfer efficiency as the speeds are way beyond a 33.6K modem speed LOL. But back then it had to be efficient. I wasn't aware of Seamonkey, as I haven't done HTML coding in over 20 years. But nice to know. And I still prefer Firefox as a browser over Chrome based browsers (although I do use Brave too when the need arises), regardless of what OS I'm using. Maybe that's just a hangover from Navigator of past.

[@Seby864]

Michael

[@titaniumex2556]

The firefox logo you used is my favorite, and the same goes for the old Chrome logo. Both of them look so cool!

[@St0rmcrash]

I'm not sure if it's still referred to as Navigator in the source code, but since SeaMonkey 2.0 the browser portion is no longer referred to as Navigator in the UI (bottom left shortcuts or the Window menu) I kind of wish they'd kept the Navigator name for posterity along with the classic Netscape icons they used up till that point, though I absolutely understand the need for the updated default theme that they launched in 2.0

[@skateboarding118]

Netscape has always been my favourite browser. I just loved the logo and imagery it summoned in my mind, felt like I was going on an adventure.

[@daringcuteseal]

If you're too young to experience things like this... Don't worry because playing games with 3090, or using Windows 10, or maybe having iPhone will be nostalgic in the future

[@aspirus_maximus]

Hey we all have windows 10 now and if not you can use it for free

[@aspirus_maximus]

And if it comes to iphone we can still use iphone 5 of 60$

[@donvercety]

Very well made documentary. I was looking trough the internet for tech based documentaries and there aren't many. Good job @Michael MJD keep doing those quality videos. xD

[@AbhijeetKumar-cm3jh]

feels weird to watch this on my Firefox, knowing that it has the roots of the netscape navigator

[@ebmar]

I like the different operating system videos, but this is by far the best one. I love tech history. Congrats.

[@williamgibb5557]

Welcome to nerdville, my friend!

[@latmask00]

Fantastic video my bro. I really enjoyed it. I never used Netscape myself. My first computer (486) came pre-installed with IE and I didn't know any better at the time.

[@OSSHeadquarters]

Can you cover the history of Microsoft Visual Studio and/or the VEGAS video editing software line?

[@JohnZombi88]

We got our first PC in 1998. I was 11. It was a Hewlett Packard with Win98. Came bundled with a box copy of Netscape so that was our browser of choice for the next 3 years or so. I would go to sites that let you play games like Checkers against other people. My mom would sit there and translate chat room abbreviations to me like "a/s/l" and "lol" while I lost Checker games. In the early 00s we switched to IE. Used to spend hours on Yahoo Games playing Canasta and Chess.

[@AndreyAndreata]

In Brazillian Portuguese the word for browser is actually "navegador", which is, of course, the translation for navigator, probably a legacy from Netscape.

[@pauloivanfonseca]

"Folheador" wouldn't "catch".

[@thundere.b2314]

COUGHS NAVEGADOR IS ALSO THE SAME MEANING IN PORTUGUESE FROM PORTUGAL COUGHS

[@nueziger2691]

Web browser and E-mail client in the same program was excellent. I miss it. It took me quite some time to adapt to 2 different programs. I used the Netscape E-mail client well into the 2010's. For editing html files, Netscape composer was terrific.

[@Cyntaria]

Love these videos. And your voice sounds more natural and real than other channels which go too hard on the expression and bubbliness (can't think of the word)

[@dubbled7286]

I loved Netscape, it integrated email into the browser.

[@jumperpoint]

I'm often surprised by what KZbin recommends, but this is actually something I more or less remember. Thanks for the refresher.

[@andrewfanelli666]

Awesome research. And you communicated all this intricately interwoven history very clearly. Thank you for your work!

[@MichaelMJD]

Glad you liked it!

[@dibberz-v1z]

found this video after finding my dad's old "internet browsing for dummies" book from 1995 and decided to look up what happened to netscape

[@e.6z1]

lmao nice nice username you have too btw LMAO

[@PartnershipsForYou]

Could I borrow that book?

[@dibberz-v1z]

@@e.6z1 danks

[@dibberz-v1z]

@@PartnershipsForYou sorry, I put it in storage for safe keepings

[@chronicxdzed2693]

If You let the Leah Lipps phenotype suck you up you will become aware.

[@z-mackdos6echo311]

I had completely forgotten about this company. It’s interesting to find out how it has evolved and where it still exists. There’s other web browsers like EarthLink that have vaporized during this tech growth carnage. There was a time when all these companies gave out CDs with their OS on them and then later the upgraded versions. Way to dig up tech history.

[@0Wayland]

Firefox has always been my browser of choice, very cool vid!

[@Wahinies]

I used it when it was called Firebird until they got threatened for use of the name

[@jjohnson4153]

Microsoft not only bundled Internet Explorer in their OS, they made IE a part of their OS and you could not remove it without messing up the OS.

[@lilwyvern4]

I'll always remember the "shooting star" logo when you typed in your address and were waiting for it to load. I always thought that was the coolest effect.

[@jacobsekela8691]

You should do a video on the Rise and Decline of Internet Explorer!

[@BOBXFILES2374a]

10 years on IE still thinks I'm not on the Internet! Used Chrome for decades, now.

[@MrFairhill]

Very interesting history. In an alternate timeline Netscape Navigator would probarbly have won the browser wars and Microsoft Internet Explorer never existed.

[@katrinabryce]

Well the next twist in the time-line: A German charity called the KDE Foundation, who produce a desktop environment for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, produced a web browser called Konqueror - after the Navigator and the Explorer comes the Conqueror - with a K because it is KDE. Apple took the code from that to create a new web browser for Mac called Safari, to replace Internet Explorer as the default browser Google took the code from Safari to create their new web browser called Chrome Microsoft then very recently took the code from Chrome and used it to create Chromium Edge which is the default Chrome/Firefox downloading tool / web browser on the latest version of Windows 10.

[@xenos_n.]

Man this brings me back to the early days of the internet. Good times.

[@fentsellers]

my grandmother used to use netscape and aol. we finally convinced her to switch to gmail last year

[@SeemsLikeSomething]

I remember having a serious ocd problem with always needing to find and upgrade to the most up to date version of Netscape navigator. OBSESSED. Those were fun times.

[@markalexander3487]

I love these histories of IT. I'm over fifty, but just recently started using the internet, so this fills me in on all the things I've missed.

[@WolfyRed]

IT?

[@itsjustzaki4335]

@@WolfyRed information technology. Welcome to the internet Mark

[@joshuauriarte452]

So much nostalgia in this video. I remember all of this. I remember Netscape I remember AOL. I'm 25 now. So was around 5 or 6 when Netscape was falling. Its amazing to see Netscape up again. I would make it my default browser if it comes back fully.

[@BrainiumBasher9001]

i stand with russia

[@leap123_]

Michael: Windows 95 OSR1 Caption: Windows 95 *OSR2* *Now I know why auto generated captions is bad*

[@sprthrwwychnnl73]

Netscape Navigator version 1.2.3 on Mac OS was the best web browser ever coded. It’s all been downhill from there. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

[@iamtheowl9631]

I'll never forget being in elementary school in the 90s and seeing the Netscape thumbnail for the first time. Before that we were using the old Mac Classic II, so the color screen was a bit of a shock. Good times.

[@johnd2248]

Netscape was the first browser I used when I first went online back in 1995! What blast from the past! Great documentary!

[@WP7Nettwerk]

I miss so much Netscape Communicator 4.7. I'll be happy if someone make Netscape Communicator UI on modern browser. (Yes I hope on Firefox browser). Please bring me back Netscape Navigator.

[@user-ez05ob0WqQ]

you can do it on Pale Moon, they got one theme that looks like Netscape

[@parkerbohnn]

Just use the latest version of SeaMonkey for the newsgroups. Netscape mean't one thing and one thing only newsgroups.

[@SegaSaturn94]

i did it based on ff7 in 2011/2012 branded as netscape 9.1 (you can find it on web ..maybe) but right for old school ux just use seamonkey.

[@muzam1l]

Netscape to firefox is like old Groot becoming new Groot after dying :)

[@galaxyii]

Great video. Thanks for making it. And thank you Netscape for some great memories!

[@demmyonline]

A friend and I were discussing what happened to Netscape yesterday, then this video popped up as a KZbin random "watch" KZbin is physic! Well done. It answered everything that had me quessing.

[@edwardalexander9486]

Quessing? And so, a new word is born...

[@demmyonline]

@@edwardalexander9486 Ants ate the bottom of the "G". I'm not aware of any way to edit posts once they're submitted.

[@brodyjames4126]

Damn, I’m going down a rabbit hole of your videos and I can’t be happier on a Saturday night! Loving your work you put in!

[@MichaelMJD]

Thanks so much! Glad you like them

[@malcolmcampbell1968]

I loved it ! Brings back memories.

[@brendanjamieson]

Netscape -> Mozilla Browser -> Firefox. This is the way.

[@etang77]

That's how I moved.

[@JonathanVachon777]

Yep thats what i did. Now i moved to brave and use duckduckgo for engine Search engine. Screw google

[@tunners]

If you guys like Netscape, you should totally try out Pale Moon, it's based off of Mozillas older browsers and works with modern websites!

[@timburr4453]

I remember their beautiful logo and the stars in the background...the colors of the sky and that comet that came flying through. It was like embarking on a bold new horizon. it had a great ambiance to it.

[@mikesmith1290]

My 1st browser after the hay days of BBS was ProdigyNet on a US Robotics 9600. pure orange-monochrome awesomeness!

[@NPGLAMB]

90s: this browser was downloaded 5k times a month Now : this browser is downloaded 1million times a day

[@dbuck5350]

I was very fond of Netscape from the start. This story is why to this day I always look for non-Microsoft applications, and Firefox for browsing and Thunderbird for email.

[@johnkochen7264]

I never used Explorer. I resented that MS shafted Netscape and WordPerfect by pretty much giving MS Office away at ridiculously low prices.

[@mousermind]

That is a terrifying thought, Facebook running a browser...

[@anjakellenjeter]

Netscape was so much better than Internet Exploder. Communicator was pretty much the first thing I installed on every new computer I had until it finally disappeared, at which point, I switched to Firefox/Thunderbird. People seem to forget that Communicator - complete with a number of other tools, including a HTML editor - even existed, save the Navigator (browser) component. I essentially learnt HTML from using the Netscape Composer tool, which was far better from a HTML standpoint than the code MS FrontPage churned out. I honestly miss the days before everyone discovered the Internet. Say what you will about geeks and nerds but the Internet was a far nicer ecosystem before it became mainstream.