A cikin 1998 Netscape ya saki lambar Netscape Communicator a ƙarƙashin lasisin buɗe tushen, yana ba dubban masu haɓaka damar shiga cikin inganta software. Koyaya, sun yanke shawarar farawa daga farko, wanda ya jagoranci ci gaban burauzar buɗe tushen kuma ba da daɗewa ba ya faɗaɗa zuwa cikakken dandamali na aikace-aikace. An kafa Shirin Ka'idojin Yanar gizo kuma ya inganta bin ƙa'idodin burauza tare da HTML da CSS ta hanyar ƙirƙirar gwaje-gwajen Acid1, Acid2, da Acid3. 2000 babbar shekara ce ga Microsoft. An saki Internet Explorer don Mac; wannan yana da mahimmanci saboda shine farkon mai bincike wanda ya goyi bayan HTML 4.01 da CSS 1, yana ɗaga mashaya dangane da ƙa'idodin bin ƙa'idodi. Hakanan shine farkon mai bincike don tallafawa tsarin hoto na PNG gaba ɗaya. A wannan lokacin an sayar da Netscape zuwa AOL kuma wannan ana ganinsa azaman asarar Netscape ga masanin binciken Microsoft a cikin yaƙe-yaƙe Tambaya: Yaushe Microsoft ya kammala yaƙin Netscape?
An sayar da Netscape zuwa AOL