Legends of Technology - Andreessen, Marc | HackTHatCORE

Image Source: The New Yorker

Andreessen, Marc

(1971 - )

American, Entrepreneur, Programmer

Marc Andreessen brought the World Wide Web and its wealth of information, graphics, and services to the desk- top, setting the stage for the first “e-commerce” revolution of the later 1990s. As founder of Netscape, Andreessen also created the first big “dot-com,” or company doing business on the Internet. Born on July 9, 1971, in New Lisbon, Wisconsin, Andreessen grew up as part of a generation that would become familiar with personal computers, computer games, and graphics. By seventh grade Andreessen had his own PC and was programming furiously. He then studied computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where his focus on computing was complemented by a wide- ranging interest in music, history, literature, and business. By the early 1990s the World Wide Web (see W orld W ide W eb and B erners -L ee , T im ) was poised to change the way information and services were delivered to users. However, early Web pages generally consisted only of linked pages of text, without point-and-click navigation or the graphics and interactive features that adorn Web pages today.
Andreessen learned about the World Wide Web shortly after Berners-Lee introduced it in 1991. Andreessen thought it had great potential, but also believed that there needed to be better ways for ordinary people to access the new medium. In 1993, Andreessen, together with colleague Eric Bina and other helpers at the National Center for Supercom- puting Applications (NCSA), set to work on what became known as the Mosaic Web browser. Since their work was paid for by the government, Mosaic was offered free to users over the Internet. Mosaic could show pictures as well as text, and users could follow Web links simply by click- ing on them with the mouse. The user-friendly program became immensely popular, with more than 10 million users by 1995. After earning a B.S. in computer science, Andreessen left Mosaic, having battled with its managers over the future of Web-browsing software. He then met Jim Clark, an older entrepreneur who had been CEO of Silicon Graphics. They founded Netscape Corporation in 1994, using $4 million seed capital provided by Clark.
Andreessen recruited many of his former colleagues at NCSA to help him write a new Web browser, which became known as Netscape Navigator. Navigator was faster and more graphically attractive than Mosaic. Most important, Netscape added a secure encrypted facility that people could use to send their credit card numbers to online merchants. This was part of a two-pronged strategy: First, attract the lion’s share of Web users to the new browser, and then sell businesses the software they would need to create effective Web pages for selling products and services to users. By the end of 1994 Navigator had gained 70 per- cent of the Web browser market. Time magazine named the browser one of the 10 best products of the year, and Netscape was soon selling custom software to companies that wanted a presence on the Web. The e-commerce boom of the later 1990s had begun, and Marc Andreessen was one of its brightest stars. When Netscape offered its stock to the public in summer 1995, the company gained a total worth of $2.3 billion, more than that of many traditional blue- chip industrial companies. Andreessen’s own shares were worth $55 million.

Battle with Microsoft

Marc Andreessen, Chairman of Loudcloud, Inc., speaks at Fortune magazine’s “Leadership in Turbulent Times” conference on Novem- ber 8, 2001, in New York City. (P hoto by M ario T ama /G etty I mages ) Microsoft (see M icrosoft and G ates , B ill ) had been slow to recognize the growing importance of the Web, but by the mid-1990s Gates had decided that the software giant had to have a comprehensive “Internet strategy.” In particular, the company had to win control of the browser market so users would not turn to “platform independent” software that could deliver not only information but applications, with- out requiring the use of Windows at all. Microsoft responded by creating its own Web browser, called Internet Explorer. Although technical reviewers gen- erally considered the Microsoft product to be inferior to Netscape, it gradually improved. Most significantly, Micro- soft included Explorer with its new Windows 95 operating system. This “bundling” meant that PC makers and con- sumers had little interest in paying for Navigator when they already had a “free” browser from Microsoft. In response to this move, Netscape and other Microsoft competitors helped promote the antitrust case against Microsoft that would result in 2001 in some of the company’s practices being declared an unlawful use of monopoly power.
Andreessen tried to respond to Microsoft by focusing on the added value of his software for Web servers while making Navigator “open source,” meaning that anyone was allowed to access and modify the program’s code (see open source ). He hoped that a vigorous community of program- mers might help keep Navigator technically superior to Internet Explorer. However, Netscape’s revenues began to decline steadily. In 1999 America Online (AOL) bought the company, seeking to add its technical assets and Webcenter online portal to its own offerings (see A merica O nline ). After a brief stint with AOL as its “principal technical visionary,” Andreessen decided to start his own company, called LoudCloud. The company provided Web-site devel- opment, management, and custom software (including e- commerce “shopping basket” systems) for corporations that had large, complex Web sites. However, the company was not successful; Andreessen sold its Web-site-management component to Texas-based Electronic Data Systems (EDS) while retaining its software division under the new name Opsware. In 2007 Andreessen scored another coup, selling Opsware to Hewlett-Packard (HP) for $1.6 billion. In 2007 Andreessen launched Ning, a company that offers users the ability to add blogs, discussion forums, and other features to their Web sites, but facing established com- petitors such as MySpace (see also social networking ). In July 2008 Andresseen joined the board of Facebook. While the future of his recent ventures remains uncer- tain, Marc Andreessen’s place as one of the key pioneers of the Web and e-commerce revolution is assured. His inven- tiveness, technical insight, and business acumen made him a model for a new generation of Internet entrepreneurs. Andreessen was named one of the Top 50 People under the Age of 40 by Time magazine (1994) and has received the Computerworld/Smithsonian Award for Leadership (1995) and the W. Wallace McDowell Award of the IEEE Computer Society (1997).

References:

• Clark, Jim. Netscape Time: The Making of the Billion-Dollar Startup That Took on Microsoft. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999.
• Guynn, Jessica. “Andreessen Betting Name on New Ning.” San Francisco Chronicle, February 27, 2006, p. D1, D4.
• Payment, Simone. Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark: The Founders of Netscape. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 2006.
• Quittner, Joshua, and Michelle Slatala. Speeding the Net: The Inside Story of Netscape and How It Challenged Microsoft. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1998.