Founder of Netscape to make new browser

Remember Marc Andreessen? Well, he's the founder of Netscape, whose Internet browser literally introduced millions to the Internet before being roundly defeated by Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

Now Andreessen is backing a start-up called RockMelt, which, "according to people with knowledge of his investment" will be building a new Internet browser, reports the New York Times. Many are wondering how a new browser will be able to compete with deeply entrenched players such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome.

Andreessen appears to be confident about what he is doing, though, saying, "We have backed a really good team." It is rumored that the new browser will be somewhat related to Facebook--Andreessen serves as a director for the social networking company.

Personally, I have no idea how this will pan out, since the big challenge for any web browser is distribution. Take Google Chrome as an example: Despite heavy promotion by the king of the Internet, the browser has gained but a paltry two percent of the market so far.

If you're expecting details, or more information about RockMelt, then expect to be disappointed, because nobody's talking about the company. Co-founder Eric Vishria elaborates, "We are at very early stages of development. Talking about it at this stage is not useful."

For more on this story:
- check out this article at The Inquirer
- check out this article at the New York Times

Related Articles:
Explorer losing favor
Firefox 3.5 passes 5 million downloads in one day
Google Chrome releases 1.0; no longer in beta
Is it only a myth that Firefox is more secure?