Netscape finally put to the sword

AOL has released its last ever update for Netscape Navigator

AOL has released its last ever update for Netscape Navigator and is encouraging its remaining users to switch to Flock or Firefox.

"Users will see the following major upgrade notice, released as Netscape 9.0.0.6," said Tom Drapeau, director of AOL's Netscape brand, in a company blog.

"When the Netscape 9.0.0.6 upgrade is accepted and run, the following notice will appear, denoting the end of support date and the recommendations of Flock and Firefox."

The pop-up offers users download links to a choice of the Flock or Mozilla's Firefox browser.

Netscape diehards will be able to stick with the browser by clicking 'Remind me later' and 'Stay with Netscape' buttons. But as of the end of February no further updates or security patches will be added.

Nearly 14 years after the once mighty browser made its first desktop appearance as Mosaic Netscape 0.9, its disappearance comes as little surprise.

Although Netscape accounted for more than 80 per cent of the browser market in 1995, the arrival of Microsoft's Internet Explorer in the same year brought stiff competition and surpassed Netscape within three years.

At the end of 2007, Drapeau announced that AOL would stop development of the browser and would end support on 1 February.

Drapeau gave Netscape a one-month reprieve at the end of last month citing the need for more time to finish migration tools.