In life we tend to have many different types of relationships. There are the relationships that stay strong over time, usually due to close proximity and daily contact. There are the types of relationships that come and go over the years, flaring then dimming, but always able to quickly be stoked back into life again. And then there are those relationships that are brief, intense, and then disappear from your life forever (well, until you are reunited 20 years later on Facebook).

I would classify my relationship with Netscape as the third. For a few brief years, it was the web for me. It did it all – web browser, email client, even a web page editor (ah Netscape Gold, I remember you well). It moved me from the world of Silly Little Message Reader to the wonderful world of the web.

It was my first love.

But then the sexier, more sophisticated choices arrived, and I was wooed by first Internet Explorer and then Firefox. Oh, I tried many times to head back to the arms of my first love, but it really never lived up to the memory.

So, needless to say I was a bit saddened, in that self reflective living in the past with my rose coloured glasses sense, to hear that AOL has pulled the plug on Netscape.

Seems like only yesterday that AOL paid 4 billion dollars for the browser. Now I’m no business expert, but you have to think that is a pretty lousy ROI. From 4 billion to dead in 10 short years.