<s>
Netscape	B-Protocol
6	I-Protocol
is	O
a	O
discontinued	O
Internet	B-Protocol
suite	I-Protocol
developed	O
by	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
Communications	O
Corporation	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
the	O
sixth	O
major	O
release	O
of	O
the	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
series	O
of	O
browsers	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
superseded	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
Communicator	I-Protocol
(	O
4.x	O
)	O
,	O
as	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
Communicator	I-Protocol
5	O
was	O
scrapped	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Netscape	B-Protocol
6	I-Protocol
was	O
the	O
first	O
browser	B-Application
of	O
the	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
line	O
to	O
be	O
based	O
on	O
another	O
source	O
code	O
:	O
Mozilla	B-Language
Application	I-Language
Suite	I-Language
,	O
an	O
open-source	B-Application
software	I-Application
package	O
from	O
the	B-Operating_System
Mozilla	I-Operating_System
Foundation	I-Operating_System
,	O
which	O
was	O
created	O
by	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
in	O
1998	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Netscape	B-Protocol
6	I-Protocol
was	O
first	O
released	O
on	O
November	O
14	O
,	O
2000	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Version	O
6.2.3	O
was	O
the	O
last	O
release	O
in	O
2002	O
,	O
and	O
it	O
was	O
succeeded	O
by	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
7	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
March	O
1998	O
,	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
split	O
off	O
most	O
of	O
the	O
Communicator	O
code	O
and	O
put	O
it	O
under	O
an	O
open	O
source	O
license	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
project	O
was	O
dubbed	O
Mozilla	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
estimated	O
that	O
turning	O
the	O
gutted	O
source	O
code	O
(	O
all	O
proprietary	B-Application
elements	O
had	O
to	O
be	O
removed	O
)	O
into	O
a	O
new	O
browser	B-Application
release	O
might	O
take	O
a	O
year	O
,	O
and	O
so	O
it	O
was	O
decided	O
that	O
the	O
next	O
release	O
of	O
the	O
corporate	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
browser	B-Application
,	O
version	O
5.0	O
,	O
would	O
be	O
based	O
on	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Netscape	B-Protocol
assigned	O
its	O
browser	B-Application
development	O
engineers	O
to	O
help	O
with	O
the	O
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Later	O
that	O
year	O
it	O
was	O
quite	O
evident	O
that	O
development	O
on	O
Mozilla	B-Operating_System
was	O
not	O
proceeding	O
quickly	O
,	O
so	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
reassigned	O
some	O
of	O
its	O
engineers	O
to	O
a	O
new	O
Communicator	O
4.5	O
release	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
had	O
the	O
result	O
of	O
redirecting	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
browser	B-Application
effort	O
into	O
a	O
dead-end	O
branch	O
while	O
Internet	B-Protocol
Explorer	I-Protocol
5.0	I-Protocol
was	O
still	O
building	O
momentum	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
version	O
5	O
of	O
the	O
browser	B-Application
was	O
skipped	O
,	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
when	O
Internet	B-Protocol
Explorer	I-Protocol
5.0	I-Protocol
had	O
been	O
available	O
for	O
a	O
year	O
and	O
a	O
half	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Mozilla	B-Operating_System
engineers	O
decided	O
in	O
late	O
October	O
1998	O
to	O
scrap	O
the	O
Communicator	O
code	O
and	O
start	O
over	O
from	O
scratch	O
using	O
the	O
standards-compliant	O
Gecko	B-Language
rendering	I-Language
engine	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
All	O
resources	O
were	O
bound	O
to	O
work	O
on	O
the	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
6.0	O
release	O
using	O
Gecko	B-Language
,	O
which	O
some	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
employees	O
deem	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
bigger	O
mistakes	O
in	O
the	O
company	O
's	O
history	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
public	O
builds	O
of	O
Mozilla	B-Operating_System
two	O
years	O
later	O
(	O
2000	O
)	O
were	O
rather	O
disappointing	O
,	O
with	O
many	O
mid-level	O
PCs	O
of	O
the	O
time	O
too	O
slow	O
to	O
run	O
the	O
larger	O
codebase	O
,	O
which	O
used	O
its	O
own	O
custom	O
set	O
of	O
graphical	B-Application
user	I-Application
interface	I-Application
widgets	O
and	O
had	O
a	O
customizable	O
UI	O
built	O
in	O
a	O
custom	O
XML	B-Protocol
dialect	O
known	O
as	O
XUL	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
release	O
,	O
the	O
browser	B-Application
was	O
deemed	O
too	O
unstable	O
for	O
production	O
use	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Versions	O
6.1	O
and	O
6.2	O
,	O
released	O
in	O
2001	O
,	O
addressed	O
stability	O
problems	O
,	O
and	O
were	O
more	O
respected	O
,	O
but	O
still	O
had	O
a	O
relatively	O
small	O
number	O
of	O
users	O
,	O
and	O
Netscape	B-Protocol
6	I-Protocol
was	O
facing	O
new	O
competition	O
from	O
Internet	B-Application
Explorer	I-Application
6.0	I-Application
,	O
released	O
in	O
the	O
summer	O
of	O
2001	O
.	O
</s>
