Netscape was once a great browser but like many who took on Microsoft it ultimately failed. Part of the reason was that AOL bought it and never used it right, like many of the ISP's purchases. Netscape became bloated with features that didn't really make it a better browser. The ultimate insult was that AOL used MS's browser, Internet Explorer, in its own service software long after acquiring Netscape.
Today after years of being hardly being used by anyone, AOL no longer supports it. The Netscape brand had been used for a variety of assets but none have had great success. Netscape.com is just a clone of aol.com with some small differences. It's clear that the parent company of AOL, Time Warner, is struggling with what to do with the once strong internet company, never mind Netscape.
While Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Opera have taken up Netscape's fight against IE for market share they still have a ways to go before reaching the coveted 50% mark. While Firefox has a great growth rate and Safari has the Mac and the iPhone / iPod Touch supporting it Opera lags behind them despite being around longer then both. What's more is that Opera is one of the first to use new browser innovations, like tabs.Part of the reason for Opera's struggles may be its name. If someone heard of it for the first time they may think its some kind of singing recorder software. Also considering that the art form of opera is not the most popular of its kind in today's world additionally makes the name not the best. While the company could just choose a completely new name its previous efforts to promote its brand would have gone to waste. If Opera could were to buy the name like Netscape it would be different. Netscape is well known as a browser and its name evokes something you would use to navigate the net. Plus the Netscape name would finally be attached to a great browser again which would make nostalgic geeks give the it another look.
Considering that Time Warner has in the past put AOL up for sale and Netscape's current status, the brand should come cheap. You may think why shouldn't Mozilla or Apple consider renaming their browsers to Netscape and the simple answer is they already have great names, it would be like renaming Cingular as AT&T (which was a dumb move).
I personally am a fan of Firefox but also like to see strong completion in markets because it usually brings out the best in the companies involved, so here's to better browser software.
