For most of us, the Netscape web browser was the first* web browser we ever used. It was the grandaddy of them all, making its debut in October 1994 to a pristine Internet free of pop-up ads, banner ads, and drive-by XSS attacks.

Sadly, the day has come for us to raise our mice in the air and bow our heads in silent appreciation for a friend that has passed away. AOL announced today that all development for Netscape will cease come February 1st, 2008.

* To be fair, NCSA Mosaic was the first browser I ever used, but it wasn't a particularly good experience. Once I got my hands on Netscape, it was the difference between DOS 4.2 command lines and Windows 3.1!