Microsoft's Web browser faces new challenger
By Anick Jesdanun
Associated Press
NEW YORK — A Web browser project run primarily by volunteers and backed by America Online is making one last stab at challenging the dominance of Microsoft Corp.
Associated Press
The group released its Mozilla 1.0 package this month — some four years after AOL's Netscape unit launched the project.
Mitchell Baker of www.mozilla.org, works on hanging a banner at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco where the Mozilla 1.0 release party was held on Wednesday. She said "Mozilla is a critical component of keeping the Web open and allowing innovation."
While analysts aren't optimistic about the browser's prospects, there is excitement among those who believe Mozilla's real strength lies in its versatility and potential for gadgets such as wireless devices where Microsoft is not yet dominant.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer now has a global usage share among browsers of 93 percent, up from 87 percent last year and 67 percent in 1999, according to WebSideStory's StatMarket.
Netscape's current share is less than 6 percent, with the remainder using Opera and other browsers.
AOL is using Mozilla in newer Netscape browsers, including the 7.0 version now available as a preview release. The company is also testing Gecko, the Mozilla component that displays content on a screen, for its flagship AOL service, which now runs on Internet Explorer.
Microsoft declined comment on how much of a threat it considers Mozilla, saying it cannot speak on rival products.
The Mozilla project began in 1998 when then-independent Netscape shifted its browser strategy to better compete with Microsoft. Netscape released its source code, or software blueprint, to the public and encouraged developers to offer improvements.
Several months into the project, the Mozilla team decided to scrap the Netscape code and start from scratch to create a modern software platform on which to build many applications — not just browsers. In early 1999, AOL acquired Netscape.
Now that Mozilla 1.0 is finally done, it's available at www.mozilla.org.
Developers say the power of Mozilla, which got its name from Netscape's dinosaur-like mascot, is its open-source nature. Users who aren't satisfied with existing browsers can adapt Mozilla themselves. Versions are being developed for Internet kiosks, game consoles and cable television set-top boxes.
The Mozilla team officially makes versions for Macintosh and the open-source Linux, and volunteers translate it to several other systems. Versions are planned in at least 38 languages.
