TIL Mark Zuckerberg didn't know what Netscape was before meeting Marc Andreessen. Zuckerberg may get some slack from the reporter and even Andressen regarding this, but it's a shame that a person can start off knowing so little about the industry they end up having such a huge impact upon.
" it's a shame that a person can start off knowing so little about the industry they end up having such a huge impact upon"
>> Even if the assertion (that Zuckerberg did not know about Netscape before meeting Marc) is true, I do not agree that it is a shame. Perhaps just points to how young the tech industry is and how much more opportunity still exists to build great companies.
Zuckerberg supposedly started writing code when in middle school, which would put him in the tech world in the mid-nineties (born in 84). Well within Netscape's run, so he must have had some amazing blinders on not to have been exposed to it.
This is one of those anecdotes people carry around that sounds good in interviews and/or illustrates a point but most likely got transformed over the years. Andreessen is positioning himself as an "elder" of sorts, one that has extensive experience (through multiple booms) and therefore wisdom within the tech world. This benefits him in multiple ways but the perception is the most important.
I'm only 19, and even I remember a time when Netscape was still pretty popular, or at least a lot of people had Navigator installed. It was even mentioned or displayed in a lot of programming books, articles, and presentations. I wonder how he managed to avoid knowledge of it for so long.
I'm guessing it's just one of those made-up stories by a journalist somewhere. According to Wikipedia Zuckerberg was doing programming in the 90's and would very likely have came across Netscape during that time. But, by the time Facebook was 'invented', Netscape had been basically non-existent in the market for a few years.
iirc I'm one year younger than Zuck but still remember upgrading to Netscape Navigator 4.0 from a previous version. But then again I grew up in SV and my dad was in the PC industry. Zuck grew up the the East coast, and that's probably the biggest difference.
