“Once synonymous with the Web itself, the pioneering browser
firm is now just an AOL unit.”
“When Netscape employees first heard their company was going to
be bought by America Online in November 1998, they worried whether
their dogs would still be allowed in the office. A year and a half
later, the dogs are still allowed, but little else is the same. Key
executives and engineers cashed in their options and left, and the
company that once was synonymous with the Web itself — the pioneer
of the Net as we know it — is now merely the ‘at-work’ arm of
AOL’s multi-brand media strategy.
“‘The merger has been a disaster,’ said Michael Cusumano,
professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and co-author of
‘Competing on Internet Time,’ which details Netscape’s struggles in
its now legendary browser war against Microsoft. ‘All the best
engineers and managers have left. Sun has taken over the client
software. … They’re no longer a player.'”