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[The Doctor]

I would just like to know where Tpneer2 is getting this information.

And please address the original claim that AOL fired the entire Netscape development team. Because that statement is just plain false.

[roipatrick]

I would just like to know where Tpneer2 is getting this information.

And please address the original claim that AOL fired the entire Netscape development team. Because that state is just plain false.

Agree. We are here to release something that is true and has proof of existence. Releasing something that might cause this site to look bad is a NO NO.


Just sharing my opinion.

[Tpneer2]

this reply is simple jsut go back in time to the last group of Navigator developers who were working for AOL because they had bought the company from Mark Andreesen the originator of the program then when AOL decided to end Netscape back in 2005 they canne dthe whole crew who then went to work buildinng firefox
this wa salso around the time that AOL issued it snewest version of the AIM client withthe TOS changes that made EVERYTHING ever typede or placed in AIM personal property of AOL
The main reason Iknow all this is that I have been beta testing all the Netscape versions form 2.1 forward

[The Doctor]

Okay, this is getting old.


Here's what happened:

January 1998 was also the month that Netscape started the open source Mozilla project.

Watch the time line. Eleven months later:

America Online (AOL) on November 24, 1998 announced it would acquire Netscape Communications in a tax-free stock-swap valued at US$4.2 billion at the time of the announcement.

The Mozilla project, which will become Firefox, was well under development by the time AOL acquired Netscape. Tpneer2 claimed that one followed after the other. Proven not true.

On July 15, 2003, Time Warner (formerly AOL Time Warner) disbanded Netscape. Most of the programmers were laid-off, and the Netscape logo was removed from the building. However, the Netscape 7.2 web browser (developed in-house rather than with Netscape staff) was released by AOL on August 18, 2004.

Time Warner, not AOL, laid-off most (not all) of the programmers. Tpneer2 claimed that AOL fired everyone. Proven not true.


So what happened to all the laid-off programmers?

AOL cuts Mozilla loose and transforms the open source project into a non-profit organization with 2 Million US dollars in seed funding.

The “idiots” (as Tpneer2 calls them) at AOL funded the Mozilla project. AOL is directly responsible for giving us Mozilla and ultimately Firefox. AOL did not “fire” the entire development team as Tpneer2 claims. Instead, they spun them off into their own company.


So what happened to the rest of the programmers who stayed with AOL?

On December 28, 2007, AOL announced that on February 1, 2008 it would drop support for the Netscape web browser and would no longer develop new releases. The date was later extended to March 1 to allow a major security update and to add a tool to assist users in migrating to other browsers. These additional features were included in the final version of Netscape Navigator 9 (version 9.0.0.6), released on February 20, 2008.

The programmers that stayed with AOL kept developing the Netscape browser for another five years.


This means that AOL kept the Netscape browser alive a full decade after the Mozilla project was launched. And the final releases of Netscape were in fact based on the work done by the Mozilla project. AOL and Mozilla were not separate as Tpneer2 would have us believe, but worked together.


And now you know the truth.

________________________________

From: Netscape - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From: Browser History: Netscape

[The Doctor]

...AOL decided to end Netscape back in 2005...

Tpneer2 can't even get the date right. Netscape ended with their final version in 2008, not 2005. You only missed it by three years.

...they canned the whole crew who then went to work building firefox...

Wrong again, Tpneer2. The Mozilla project, which ultimately became Firefox, was started eleven (11) months prior to AOL's announcement of the Netscape acquisition.

I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the members of this forum for the gross inaccuracies that have been postulated by Tpneer2.

And a sincere apology to AOL for any libelous comments made by Tpneer2 against your company's good name. The erroneous views expressed by Tpneer2 do not represent the views of the other members, staff, administration, and sponsors of this forum.