Andreessen Essay Research Paper Marc Andreessen is

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Andreessen Essay, Research Paper Marc Andreessen is the young co-founder and vice-president of technology of Netscape Communications Corporation. Netscape was founded by Andreessen and computer scientist-entrepreneur Jim Clark to develop and market an enhanced version of NCSA Mosaic, the first Internet browser, which Andreessen had helped write when he was an undergraduate at the University of Illinois. By following the unlikely strategy of giving away the browser for free, Netscape has been able to make a lot of money. This was done by first by establishing Netscape’s browser (called Netscape Navigator) as the Internet standard, and then selling other kinds of network software for Internet and corporate use. Netscape’s initial public offering (IPO), the most successful

in Wall Street history, made Andreessen an instant multi-millionaire. As a stellar example of today’s information age entrepreneur, Andreessen has achieved a kind of celebrity status, and has made the cover of Time Magazine as the pre-eminent "super geek" of his generation. Since its founding, Netscape has achieved a dominant share of the markets for Internet and intranet software at the same time that it has fueled the astronomical growth of the Word Wide Web and fundamentally shifted the software industry to a cross-platform, Internet-based standard. Since the end of 1995 Netscape’s share of Internet and corporate markets has come to be increasingly challenged by competitors, most notably software giant Microsoft. In one of the classic corporate campaigns in

recent history, Microsoft has committed its massive resources to recapturing the Internet from Netscape. In the midst of Netscape’s struggles for market share and survival, Marc Andreessen calmly continues in his role as long-term strategist and visionary while under close scrutiny by the business community and the media. At the same time, he lives a relatively quiet and modest life with his fianc?e, Elizabeth Horn, in Mountain View, California. ****************** Marc Andreessen was born in July of 1971 in New Lisbon, Wisconsin, an archetypal Midwestern town of about 1,500 people. His father, a seed salesman, is now retired, and his mother works for catalogue clothier Lands End. Although school sports were the main focus of extracurricular attention and the quickest road to

popularity and status in Lisbon, the 6’4" Andreessen had little interests in athletics. While the sporting teams practiced, Andreessen pursued an interest in computers that began when he was in the fifth grade. At that time he learned Basic programming language from a library book before ever laying hands on a computer. In the sixth grade Andreessen used one of the school’s computers to write a program with which he could do his math homework, but the program was wiped out when a janitor turned off the power in the building. A year later his parents made what must be considered one of the great investments in business history when they bought Marc his own computer, a Commodore 64. Andreessen then began his programming career writing games. Andreessen was recognized early

on as a superior and creative intellect. His high school principal states that Andreessen had "an intellectual capacity that could intimidate people," while teachers and classmates remember him as generally likable and as having an excellent sense of humor. They also recall that Andreessen had a rather offbeat imagination; a proclivity to come up with rather different ideas on a variety of subjects such as the nature of God and the future of science. The Keys to Netscape: English and Philosophy Andreessen went on to attend undergraduate school at the University of Illinois. He recalls that in spite of his interest in computers, he did not at first intend to pursue a career in computing because he believed electrical engineering would offer more lucrative career choices.