Netscape's mid-'90s workplace culture was decades ahead of its time

[Shawn Knight]

What do a giant green lizard, a fish cam, a rubber chicken and no dress code all have in common? In the 1990s, the answer was Netscape – one of the hottest Internet and telecommunications firms in the world at the time.

What we have here is a recruiting video released in the mid-‘90s. Described by president and CEO Jim Barksdale as the greatest collection of people on the planet, Netscape broke many of the traditional rules in terms of workplace environment.

Founded in 1994 as an offshoot of the Mosaic Communications Corporation and headquartered in Mountain View, California, Netscape went public a year later and nearly set a record in first-day gains. At one point, Netscape’s web browser was used by more than 90 percent of the market but that was before Microsoft decided to build its own browser, Internet Explorer.

Netscape was ultimately acquired by America Online on March 17, 1999, as part of a deal valued at $10 billion.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/55867-netscapes-mid-90s-workplace-culture-was-decades-ahead-of-its-time.html

 

[Guest17]

Windows 95 and Netscape Navigator: The Beatles and the Stones of Internet history.

 

[psycros]

"American Online"...?

And yeah, Netscape was among the top innovators of the day. Imagine if they'd merged with Yahoo.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

At one point, Netscape’s web browser was used by more than 90 percent of the market but that was before Microsoft decided to build its own browser, Internet Explorer.

That's because IE was free. Their workspace may have been years ahead of it's time, but charging $35 for an internet browser sure wasn't.

 

[Guest]

And the golden age of free pron begins

 

[Railman]

At one point, Netscape’s web browser was used by more than 90 percent of the market but that was before Microsoft decided to build its own browser, Internet Explorer.

That's because IE was free. Their workspace may have been years ahead of it's time, but charging $35 for an internet browser sure wasn't.

But that is not the full story. I never paid a penny for Netscape and I think you will find that is true for many. It was free for home and educational use.

 

[Railman]

And the golden age of free pron begins

Not sure what was golden about it as. JPEG photo took an age to download and it was pre video streaming.

 

[captaincranky]

Not sure what was golden about it as. JPEG photo took an age to download and it was pre video streaming.

Yeah, that's why you find a lot of really old photos, (10+ yrs), @ 1024 x 768px, the screen res of most old CRT monitors.

Now one purveyor of "erotic art", is pushing stuff from a studio DSLR @ about 80mp resolution, or in terms of lineal resolution, 10,000 x 7500px. (The photos are still Jpeg though).

He fancies himself an "artist", I fancy him the, "master of boor-nography.

 

[Railman]

Not sure what was golden about it as. JPEG photo took an age to download and it was pre video streaming.

Yeah, that's why you find a lot of really old photos, (10+ yrs), @ 1024 x 768px, the screen res of most old CRT monitors.

Now one purveyor of "erotic art", is pushing stuff from a studio DSLR @ about 80mp resolution, or in terms of lineal resolution, 10,000 x 7500px. (The photos are still Jpeg though).

He fancies himself an "artist", I fancy him the, "master of boor-nography.

Sounds a bit like an Edwardian photographer who specialised in erotic pictures and he would sell them to professional clients such as bank managers. the phrase 'for the decerning gentleman' came into being.