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Netscape 2.0? Andreessen Funds Browser Start-up

He's underwriting an early-stage browser start-up called RockMelt
By Maureen O'Gara
Article Rating:
August 21, 2009 12:45 PM EDT
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 1,027

The now bald-as-Bruce-Willis ex-Netscape wunderkind-recently-turned-VC Marc Andreessen, roundly trounced by Microsoft and its Internet Explorer widgetry 15 years ago, is underwriting an early-stage browser start-up called RockMelt about which little to nothing is known other than its disruption-suggesting logo.

According to a piece in the New York Times that ran last Friday RockMelt is the work of two ex-Opsware guys Eric Vishria and Tim Howes, Opsware being the ISV that Andreessen sold to HP for a cool $1.6 billion two years ago. Its principal engineer is Robert John Churchill, who was Netscape's principal engineer.

It may or may not be different than IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome and "social browser" Flock.

It may or may not be built from scratch and attuned to the web as it is now.

It may or may not be for Facebook, where Andreessen serves on the board, the social network that - come to think of it - Microsoft owns a piece of.

A RockMelt web page that - poof! - disappeared (and Read Write Web captured) suggested that the browser may be tailored to Facebook users via Facebook Connect.

On the other hand it may or may not be general-purpose.

Published August 21, 2009 – Reads 1,027
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Maureen O'Gara the most read technology reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025.

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