Netscape

In computing, US software company that supplies Navigator, a World Wide Web browser, which is usually referred to as Netscape. Netscape Communications was founded in 1994 as Mosaic Communications, and called its browser Netscape. The names were changed in deference to the University of Illinois, where the Mosaic browser was written. The company was taken over by America Online in 1999.

Netscape became very popular by giving away its browser for non-commercial use, and its sales increased rapidly as corporations licensed the browser and Netscape's growing suite of server-based programs. In 1997, Netscape's browser held 60% of the market. However, it suffered when Microsoft gave away copies of its Internet Explorer browser, and distributed it as part of Windows. Netscape has also had to compete with Apache, a very popular free Web server program. The company now concentrates on selling its highly regarded server software to large corporations, and on developing its profitable portal Web site, Netcenter. In 2000, a beta version was released of the completely revamped Netscape Navigator 6.