Netscape Communications was once the hottest property in the tech industry. They held nearly unchallenged control of the web browser market, and their IPO went for $75 a share, an unheard-of amount for any company, let alone one so new and in such an emerging field. Three years later, floundering due to an aggressive campaign by Microsoft to switch users to their rival Internet Explorer browser, Netscape was acquired by AOL (part of Time Warner) in an attempt to revitalize their own fading brand. It did not go over well.

On this day, July 15, in 2003, in an effort to cut costs and focus more on profitable activities, AOL disbanded the Netscape team, some of whom eventually joining Google, and others possibly joining a new small start-up called the Mozilla Foundation.

Another three years later industry professionals and scholars noted the shifting paradigm in the new products both companies released. Netscape was re-launched by AOL as a clone of Digg, a popular news and discussion forum on the web, while Mozilla created a web browser that carried on Netscape’s ethos into the new generation.