The market responded to what was essentially a repackaged version of Mozilla Application Suite (swollen with integrated tools to access proprietary services owned by AOL) by ignoring it (partly because the initial Netscape 7.0 release removed the popup blocker from Mozilla).

Competition from mature and competent non-Microsoft alternatives such as the Opera browser and the regular Mozilla distribution was a major factor.

AOL announced on July 15, 2003 that it was laying off all its remaining development staff working on the Netscape version of Mozilla.

Many believed that no further versions of the browser would be released and that the Netscape brand name would live on only as the name of AOL's low-cost dial-up internet service.

It included improved security and the ability to natively use the Gecko layout engine used by Mozilla and its derivatives.