Netscape's vanishing point?
Summary
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To be sure, this company can still cause a stir -- though for all the wrong reasons.
Remember the run-up to the rollout of Netscape 6 last November? Anticipation was high because so much was on the line. The browser was powered by the company's Gecko technology. Also, Netscape had been tinkering with the product for some 32 months, and users expected a lot -- especially with the then-current product line being openly mocked as an antique.
Management got a reaction to the release, all right, although I doubt it was the one it wanted. Critics slammed Netscape 6 as a rush job, saying the browser was plagued with enough bugs to resemble a 1.0 software release. Harsh judgment, but the fact is that Netscape whiffed when it needed to belt a four-bagger.
Considering Microsoft's strong-arm marketing tactics -- a point highlighted during the company's antitrust trial in 1998 and 1999 --maybe there was little Netscape could have done to shift the constellation of forces anyway.
But you have to wonder whether Netscape still has the horses to make a go of it -- let alone come up with the sort of "wow" technology that might have helped it slice into Microsoft's lead in the browser market. I'm not so sure anymore.
The best talent -- which once made Netscape the hottest place to work in Silicon Valley -- has long since departed for greener pastures. Meanwhile, former and current employees say the current incarnation of Netscape bears little resemblance to the former crown jewel of the Internet economy. They describe Netscape as a decidedly less interesting place to work, a company where the regulars essentially punch the clock and no longer dare to be great.
"People are not getting good direction, and there's no sense of commitment to product," says one Netscapee. "Take a look at what happened to Netscape 6. If you were someone who wanted to innovate, you jumped off this ship long ago. People nowadays who are there are looking for security."
"Any of the people who stayed on are staying because it suits them to have an undemanding job where they can lock the door and check out by 5 p.m.," adds another former Netscape official. "It's a perfect 9-to-5 job -- and that doesn't bode well for exciting things to happen. The feeling is that they don't have much to do with their own destiny."
The pressure is on America Online, which agreed to pay $10 billion to buy Netscape, to turn things around. And indeed, earlier this week, AOL installed one of its own, Jim Bankoff, as Netscape president. Jim Martin, who used to run the show, is supposed to remain with AOL in a still-to-be-determined capacity. (Headhunters, take note.)
AOL insiders have a lot of respect for Bankoff's can-do approach and say he has the right stuff to get results. ("That 9-to-5 attitude will soon be history," was the way one source put it.)
In the meantime, AOL is moving to turn Netscape.com into a hub for content from the AOL Time Warner media network. The news induced Patrick Keane, an analyst at Jupiter Media Metrix, to wisecrack that the decision "almost sounds like Pathfinder, Part Two." He was referring to the earlier botched attempt by Time Warner to package all its print content under a single Web umbrella.
That's not to suggest it was a mistake to acquire Netscape in the first place. AOL wanted to turn its brand into an Internet brand, and management got that and more -- along with a market-cap spike of some 400 percent. AOL also sought Netscape's Internet expertise to help upgrade the company's technology platform, which was getting long in the tooth. And although AOL failed to do a great job on retention, they have done great when it came to knowledge retention.
Remember this about Netscape: It was primarily a software company. AOL is a media company. And in a media company, technology is a means to an end. At Netscape, technology was an end.
That may be the hardest pill of all to swallow for any of the old crew at Netscape still toiling away in Mountain View. They remember the old days, but for better or for worse, this is the new world order.
"Things change," one longtime Netscape hand confided. "That's a little difficult and a weird kind of thing to go through. But it's the way it is."
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