[LINK] Rockmelt

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Netscape Founder Backs New Browser 

By MIGUEL HELFT  August 13, 2009  www.nytimes.com 


SAN FRANCISCO — It has been 15 years since Marc Andreessen developed the 
Netscape Internet browser that introduced millions of people to the 
Internet. 

Now a prominent Silicon Valley financier, Mr. Andreessen is backing a 
start-up called RockMelt, staffed with some of his close associates, that 
is building a new Internet browser, according to people with knowledge of 
his investment. 

 http://www.rockmelt.com/

Mr. Andreessen suggested the new browser would be different, saying that 
most other browsers had not kept pace with the evolution of the Web, 
which had grown from an array of static Web pages into a network of 
complex Web sites and applications. 

"There are all kinds of things that you would do differently if you are 
building a browser from scratch," Mr. Andreessen said. 

After Microsoft defeated Netscape, it controlled more than 90 percent of 
the browser market. Interest in browsers among technology companies waned 
and innovation ground to a halt. But in the last 18 months, the Internet 
browser has become a battleground again with giants like Google, Apple 
and Microsoft fighting one another. 

The renewed interest in browsers is partly a result of the success of 
Mozilla, a nonprofit. The speedier, safer and more innovative Mozilla 
Firefox browser, introduced in 2004, has grabbed 23 percent of the 
market, and Microsoft’s share has dropped to 68 percent. 

But the latest battle was also prompted by a giant shift in computing 
that is increasingly making the Web, not the PC, the place where people 
interact with complex software applications. Technology giants now see 
the browser as a control point to what users do online, and they want a 
say in shaping it. 

In the last 18 months, Microsoft and Apple introduced greatly improved 
versions of their browsers, Internet Explorer and Safari. And Google 
entered the fray last fall when it released its Chrome browser. Last 
month, Google said it would build an operating system, also called 
Chrome, with its principal function being to support its browser. 

"The days of working in isolation on your computer are mostly gone," said 
John Lilly, the chief executive of Mozilla. "Because the Web has become 
so central to what we do, and the browser is the technology that mediates 
our interaction with the Web, the way the browser works is really 
important. There is a lot of room for innovation." 

Mr. Andreessen's backing is certain to make RockMelt the focus of intense 
attention. For now, the company is keeping a lid on its plans. On the 
company’s Web site, the corporate name and the words "coming soon" are 
topped by a logo of the earth, with cracks exposing what seems to be 
molten lava from the planet's core. 

In the interview this summer, Mr. Andreessen credited Mozilla with coming 
up with an economic model to support Web browsers. The organization has 
an agreement with Google that makes Google the standard home page when 
people start Firefox, and sends them to Google when they type something 
into the search box at the top of the browser. In 2007, Google paid 
Mozilla about $75 million for the alliance. 

"Browsers today have a great business model," Mr. Andreessen said. 

But experts say a big challenge for any new Web browser could be 
distribution. Despite Google’s heavy promotion of Chrome, the browser has 
gained just 2 percent of the market ..

 A version of this article appeared in print on August 14, 2009.

Cheers,
Stephen