Netscape launches Navigator web browser

13th October 1994
Netscape launches Navigator web browser

The Mosaic Communications Corporation (renamed Netscape Communications Corporation on 14th November 1994) launched its flagship internet browsing application on this day.

Netscape designed Navigator to provide home-based users with a browser that was usable at the low internet speeds many people had at the time, due to slow dial-up modems.

It very quickly became the browser of choice for the majority of internet surfers. For the rest of the 1990s, it continued to be used more than any other browser application. A whole generation of users relied upon Navigator until Microsoft Internet Explorer was packaged with their Windows 95 operating system.

Related information:

• Centre for Computing History: Marc Andreessen
• Centre for Computing History: Netscape Navigator Personal Edition 2.02
• Web Design Museum: Mosaic Netscape version 0.9 beta

Image:

• Icon used on Netscape Navigator browsers from 1994 to 2007
  Credit: Netscape Communications Corp (original icon). Gabriel dos Santos (SVG version). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons