Editing Netscape (section)

===Early years===
{{quote box |quote=Netscape Communications wants you to forget all the highway metaphors you've ever heard about the Internet. Instead, think about an encyclopedia—one with unlimited, graphically rich pages, connections to E-mail and files, and access to Internet newsgroups and online shopping. |source=—''Netscape Navigator'', [[Macworld]] (May 1995)<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hawn|first=Mathew|date=May 1995|title=Netscape Navigator. (Netscape Communications World Wide Web browser) (Software Review)(Evaluation)|journal=Macworld|access-date=May 17, 2011|quote=Netscape Communications wants you to forget all the highway metaphors you've ever heard about the Internet. Instead, think about an encyclopedia—one with unlimited, graphically rich pages, connections to E-mail and files, and access to Internet newsgroups and online shopping.|url=http://lookups.com.au/wiki/1G1-16739494.php|url-access=subscription|archive-date=April 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180409110108/http://lookups.com.au/wiki/1G1-16739494.php|url-status=live}}</ref> |width=40% |bgcolor=#c6dbf7}}

Netscape was the first company to attempt to capitalize on the emerging [[World Wide Web]].<ref name=LATimes2007>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-dec-29-fi-netscape29-story.html |title=AOL will pull the plug on Netscape's tech support |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=May 18, 2014 |date=December 29, 2007 |archive-date=May 19, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140519002700/http://articles.latimes.com/2007/dec/29/business/fi-netscape29 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Fortune/> It was founded under the name '''Mosaic Communications Corporation''' on April 4, 1994, the brainchild of [[James H. Clark|Jim Clark]] who had recruited [[Marc Andreessen]] as co-founder and [[Kleiner Perkins]] as investors. The first meeting between Clark and Andreessen was never truly about a software or service like Netscape, but more about a product that was similar to Nintendo.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title = The Geography of the Internet Industry: Venture Capital, Dot-Coms, and Local Knowledge|last = Zook|first = Matthew A.|publisher = Blackwell Publishing|year = 2005|isbn = 978-0-631-23331-2|location = Oxford|page = 104}}</ref> Clark recruited other early team members from [[Silicon Graphics|SGI]] and [[NCSA Mosaic]]. [[James L. Barksdale|Jim Barksdale]] came on board as CEO in January 1995.<ref name=Fortune>{{cite magazine |url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/07/25/8266639/index.htm |title=Remembering Netscape: The Birth Of The Web |author=Adam Lashinsky |magazine=Fortune Magazine |date=July 25, 2005 |access-date=September 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427112146/http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/07/25/8266639/index.htm |archive-date=April 27, 2006}}</ref> Jim Clark and Marc Andreessen originally created a 20-page concept pitch for an online gaming network to [[Nintendo]] for the [[Nintendo 64]] console, but a deal was never reached. Marc Andreessen explains, "If they had shipped a year earlier, we probably would have done that instead of Netscape."<ref name=SFGate.com>[http://www.sfgate.com/business/ontherecord/article/OPSWARE-INC-On-the-record-Marc-Andreessen-2525822.php#page-5/ "OPSWARE INC. / On the record: Marc Andreessen"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310184538/http://www.sfgate.com/business/ontherecord/article/OPSWARE-INC-On-the-record-Marc-Andreessen-2525822.php#page-5/ |date=March 10, 2016 }}. SFGate. December 7, 2003. Retrieved July 24, 2012.</ref>

The company's first product was the web browser, called ''Mosaic Netscape 0.9,'' released on October 13, 1994. Within four months of its release, it had already taken three-quarters of the browser market.<ref name=":0"/> It became the main browser for Internet users in such a short time due to its superiority over other competition, like Mosaic.<ref name=":0"/> This browser was subsequently renamed [[Netscape Navigator]], and the company took the "Netscape" name (coined by employee Greg Sands,<ref name=Fortune/> although it was also a trademark of [[Cisco Systems]]<ref>[http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/063010-cisco-cius-tablet.html "Cisco tablet not an iPad knock-off: Chambers"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328100326/http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/063010-cisco-cius-tablet.html |date=March 28, 2014 }}. Network World. June 30, 2010. Retrieved July 1, 2012.</ref>) on November 14, 1994,<ref>{{Cite news| page = B3| title = Mosaic's Name Change| work=The San Francisco Chronicle| date = November 15, 1994}}</ref> to avoid trademark ownership problems with [[National Center for Supercomputing Applications|NCSA]], where the initial Netscape employees had previously created the [[Mosaic (web browser)|NCSA Mosaic]] web browser. The Mosaic Netscape web browser did not use any NCSA Mosaic code.<ref name="Netscape Time">{{cite book |title=Netscape Time: The Making of the Billion-Dollar Start-Up That Took on Microsoft |last=Clark |first=Jim |author-link=James H. Clark |author2=Owen Edwards |year=1999 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0312199340 |url=https://archive.org/details/netscapetimemaki00clar |url-access=registration }}</ref> The internal [[codename]] for the company's browser was ''Mozilla'', which stood for "Mosaic killer", as the company's goal was to displace NCSA Mosaic as the world's number one [[web browser]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEFu-B1wj1E&t=7m35s | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615045013/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEFu-B1wj1E&gl=US&hl=en| archive-date=2013-06-15 | url-status=dead|title=Marc Andreessen Revealed (Bloomberg Game Changers) |publisher=YouTube.com |access-date=2019-06-13}}</ref> A cartoon [[Godzilla]]-like lizard mascot was drawn by artist-employee Dave Titus,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://portfolio.davetitus.com/dave_titus_mozilla.html |title=Portfolio of freelance illustrator and animator, Dave W. Titus, Dave Titus Illustrations. Mascots, characters, children's product illustration, packaging and game illustration, and creator of Mozilla |publisher=Portfolio.davetitus.com |date=2010-07-22 |access-date=2019-06-13 |archive-date=October 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003085234/http://portfolio.davetitus.com/dave_titus_mozilla.html |url-status=live }}</ref> which went well with the theme of crushing the competition. The Mozilla mascot featured prominently on Netscape's website in the company's early years. However, the need to project a more "professional" image (especially towards corporate clients) led to this being removed.