Ha ha! Yes, the launch of Javagator was a lot like watching the Space Shuttle Challenger blow up.

Such glorious plans they had, then Sun and Netscape started bickering about who was going to be on top...

But Rhino, Mozilla and Phoenix eventually rose from the ashes of the Javagator Disaster.

December 30, 1997: Netscape sharpens Javagator plans

https://www.cnet.com/news/netscape-sharpens-javagator-plans/

>The Internet software company says it will have an all-Java browser ready for network computers and other clients by July.

>[...] Although bandied about by company executives and in the press, the term "Javagator" is strictly slang. The official code name for the browser is Maui, Gong said.

>[...] Moreover, Netscape's move to develop a pure Java browser will put the company's long-standing cross-platform mantra to the test. The extent of the pure Java browser's technological success and market acceptance will most likely serve as a temperature gauge for other developers looking to test the Java waters.

February 25, 1998: Netscape puts Javagator "on hold"

https://www.itprotoday.com/windows-78/netscape-puts-javagato...

>As expected, Netscape has put plans for its 100% Pure Java version of Navigator, dubbed "Javagator", "on hold". The company is hoping that an industry heavyweight with lots of cash--such as Sun or IBM--will finance the project or simply take it off their hands.

February 26, 1998: Netscape's Java browser in doubt

https://www.zdnet.com/article/netscapes-java-browser-in-doub...

>Netscape Communications Corp. , still refining its client strategies, has put development of its Pure Java browser - dubbed Javagator - "on hold."

>[...] Javagator was rumored to be a dead project early this year; however, Netscape officials at the January announcement of the company's source-code release plans said it was still an ongoing project.

Well at least that panned out! ;)

February 26, 1998: Whither Crawls Netscape's Javagator?

https://www.wired.com/1998/02/whither-crawls-netscapes-javag...

[You know a rumor's true when they vigorously DENY it in upper case!]

>NETSCAPE OFFICIALS DENIED a report in the computer trade press today that the company has suspended work on Javagator, the nickname for Netscape's all-Java version of its Navigator browser. But their comments shed little light on the future of the special browser project.

>"Nothing has changed," said Netscape spokeswoman Andrea Cook, referring to the company's position on the project, officially codenamed Maui.

>[...] Sources close to Netscape say that during formation of the company's plans to release its source code, there was a professed desire to suspend Javagator's development, but partner companies dissuaded the company from doing so.

>IBM representatives confirm that it and other companies with interest in the success of network computers (NC) are reviewing Netscape's call for help in the funding and development of Javagator.

>[...] There has long been speculation that the Maui project was being de-emphasized at Netscape, partly due to the cool reception of NCs in the market.

>"We've anticipated it for the simple reason that there's no money in browsers and that Netscape has released a free source version of Communicator," said Forrester's Schadler. "The only place you can run a Javagator today is on an NC - and there ain't none."

>[...] With the announcement that it would begin free distribution of its browser software and source code, the company also said it would stop developing the Java Virtual Machine for its browser. But there are financial justifications to cut non-critical projects like Javagator, too, after the company suffered a a US$88 million, fourth-quarter loss in 1997.

>Schadler said Netscape has to turn over Javagator development, at least as a separate subsidiary, for the added reason that continuing the project in-house undermines the plan to free its source code, starting with Communicator 5.0.

>"The nightmare to the [Communicator 5.0] development community is the prospect of Netscape developing another code base," Schadler said. The company has to show commitment solely to the Communicator code that developers would be contributing too, he said.

April 3, 1998: Will Javagator be reborn as Jazilla?

https://www.wired.com/1998/04/will-javagator-be-reborn-as-ja...

>A LOOSE COLLECTION of Java enthusiasts from around the world have seized upon Netscape's recent release of Communicator 5 source code, and are busily hacking away on Jazilla – a Java-based version of the browser.

>The news comes just weeks after Netscape and Sun Microsystems acknowledged that they were seeking partners to take over "Javagator," a proposed 100-percent-pure Java version of Netscape's browser. Now, eager developers have taken matters into their own hands and are porting the Netscape C++ code, called Mozilla, to Java.

>[...] "The Javagator project didn't go very well, so this is a reincarnation of that – we've had email back and forth with the people who worked on it, and they explained all of their challenges," said Rodd.

>"The reason [Javagator] failed was organizational – it wasn't a priority," said Rodd.

Fortunately, Netscape's Java Rhino JavaScript engine managed to make it out into the world:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhino_(JavaScript_engine)

>The Rhino project was started at Netscape in 1997. At the time, Netscape was planning to produce a version of Netscape Navigator written fully in Java and so it needed an implementation of JavaScript written in Java. When Netscape stopped work on Javagator, as it was called, the Rhino project was finished as a JavaScript engine. Since then, a couple of major companies (including Sun Microsystems) have licensed Rhino for use in their products and paid Netscape to do so, allowing work to continue on it.

Javascript Jabber: 124 JSJ The Origin of Javascript with Brendan Eich

https://dev.to/adventuresinangular/aia-206-the-origin-of-jav...

https://devchat.cachefly.net/javascriptjabber/transcript-124...

Brendan Eich:

And Netscape had acquired a company called Digital Styles that was known for rendering engines
of some kind. And they started doing a next-generation engine in ’97 I think based on Java. And
they thought, Netscape’s doing the Javagator, Netscape and Sun are going to kill Windows, Java’s
going to be the future on the client side. Let’s build a Java engine. When Java got the plug pulled
from it in late ’97, when the Electrical Fire JVM that Waldemar Horwat was building at Netscape
got cancelled, when Sun went away because Netscape was basically going out of business slowly,
the team that was doing this Java engine, this Java web engine, rendering engine called Raptor
said, “Oh, we better rewrite it in,” maybe it was called Xena, I forget. They said, “We better rewrite it
in C++.” And then they said, “Let’s sell it to Mozilla.”