What Is Netscape Communicator?

In 1997, Netscape was the go-to brand for internet browsers. They were also interested in more than just browsers. They wanted to create a suite of applications allowing you to do everything you needed on the internet simultaneously. So they came up with Netscape Communicator: a suite of Internet applications designed by Netscape and released in 1997. The suite included a web browser, email client, newsgroup reader, instant messenger and chat client, HTML editor, web developer toolkit, and even an IRC chat client. The suite had a few notable features that set it apart from other products at the time it had tabs (which were not yet familiar), pop-up blocking (which was not yet shared), and cookies (which were not yet friendly). Netscape Communicator was famous enough that Microsoft quickly began developing Internet Explorer 3 to counter Netscape's dominance. Netscape Navigator was the first Web browser, and it set the standard for what a browser should be. It didn't last long: Microsoft's Internet Explorer came along and ate Netscape's lunch. Netscape Navigator 2. 0 introduced frames, allowing users to place multiple windows in one browser window, which was revolutionary then! It allowed for more interactive web pages, including the much-loved "under construction" pages that let you know that a site was still being built. Netscape couldn't hold off Microsoft forever; eventually, both companies released new versions of their browsers every six months. This led to a war over features and updates, with each company trying to outdo the other to gain market share. Netscape finally lost when AOL bought them in 1998. They stopped developing Netscape Navigator and moved on to other products like AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). However, some employees left AOL and took some of Netscape's code. This became Mozilla Firefox, which is still going strong today!