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Comment by scarface_74

5 days ago

There was never a time that you as individual couldn’t use an ftp client back in the day and download a free version of Netscape.

So who would buy “Chrome” when they can get Chromium for free and fork it?

5 comments

scarface_74

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redblacktree  5 days ago

I am confused by this comment too. I don't recall ever being asked to pay for Netscape. (not that I would have, at 12ish)

  • gbeeson  4 days ago

    I clearly remember it being boxed and on a shelf along side Internet Explorer for like $40 at CompUSA. Nearly an entire isle for browsers.

    • scarface_74  4 days ago

      Yes, that was for people who didn’t know how to connect to Netscape’s official FTP server and download it directly

  • throwaway888889  5 days ago

    I remember it was originally paid for (i vaguely remember seeing an ad in a pc mag) but by 1996 I got it for free

  • scsh  4 days ago

    It was never required to pay for it. As was common with software back then, the free download was a fully featured "evaluation" version denoted by an "N" appended to the version number. That didn't last long though and it just stayed free.

    There was a "Gold" version they sold at retail for some time that had a WYSIWYG editor in it, until they made it standard as part of the Communicator suite.