Last week, AOL announced it will retire the Netscape web browser after nearly 14 years of operation, planning to cease support of Netscape software products as of February 1. AOL will instead throw its weight behind Mozilla’s Firefox browser which, since its release in late 2004, has been gaining ground against Microsoft’s ascendant Internet Explorer. “Given AOL’s current business focus and the success the Mozilla Foundation has had in developing critically acclaimed products, we feel it’s the right time to end development of Netscape-branded browsers, hand the reins fully to Mozilla, and encourage Netscape users to adopt Firefox,” said AOL/Netscape development director Tom Drapeau in a recent blog post.

AOL had acquired Netscape for $4.2 billion in 1998 and used Netscape’s code base to develop what would become Firefox. In 2003, the Mozilla Foundation separated from Netscape and AOL as a result of Microsoft’s $750 million antitrust settlement with AOL, though it has maintained close alignment with its former parent company. Though the Netscape browser was once dominant in terms of usage share, it lost most of the market to IE during the late 90s. By 2006, the usage share of Netscape browsers had fallen from over 90% in the mid 90s to less than 1%.

For most, this move by AOL has been a long time coming. The Internet security site Security Watch reacted by stating that infrequent security updates by Netscape had caused the browser to become a “security liability.” One of Firefox’s original programmers, Aza Dotzler, greeted the news with a “good riddance” in a recent blog post. However, some are protesting and petitioning for its continuation, circulating online petitions calling for security fixes to unknowing or loyal users of its software, and the protection of a well-known brand.

Yet, as a result of repeated attempts in the past few years by AOL to take advantage of the fading brand, the Netscape name will remain, albeit in other ventures. In 2003, AOL launched a discounted dial-up ISP through Netscape, and the summer before last it supported the transition of the Netscape website from a professionally programmed portal to a successful social news site, now propeller.com. The site features articles submitted by users, whose votes on stories help determine how prominently they’re featured on the page (much like the popular Digg.com). Regardless of these Netscape reincarnations, though, the retirement of the browser marks the final victory by Microsoft in the first browser war and deserves a respectful moment of silence.

Ok. Now you can get on with your day.