Open-source browser is first for brand under AOL

Netscape Communications, the maker of the Web-browsing software at the core of the U.S. government’s antitrust case against Microsoft Corp., made its long-awaited final version of its Netscape 6 browser available to consumers Tuesday. Netscape once held nearly 90 percent of the browser market with its program that was used by millions as their primary window to the Internet. However, the unit of America Online Inc. has faced an uphill battle from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which is shipped in every Windows PC and holds nearly 70 percent of the market. AOL has an existing deal with Microsoft that requires it to make Internet Explorer the embedded Web software inside its AOL service until Microsoft’s browser is built into Windows. The newest version of the Netscape browser, which can run across a variety of platforms from personal computers to new consumer devices, has been rewritten completely. It is powered by Gecko technology and was developed through an open source project known as Mozilla that took feedback from a volunteer network of independent Internet programmers. In contrast to Internet Explorer, Netscape supports Linux and will run on the operating system, which is an alternative to Microsoft. Netscape 6 will let users combine browsing, e-mail and instant messaging in an integrated environment so that it is not necessary to load separate applications for each communication task.