Netscape's Open Directory Project Tops 675,000 Sites on First Anniversary

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (June 24, 1999) - On the one-year anniversary of it's Open Directory Project, Netscape, a subsidiary of AOL (NYSE: AOL), announced that the directory is growing so rapidly that it has more than doubled in size every three months since its inception and has established itself as a leading Internet directory. Netscape will promote the continued growth of the Open Directory by making it available on Netcenter and by making it easier for individuals to contact fellow contributors with questions and comments with the newly integrated AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and ICQ services.

Netscape's Open Directory is the first Internet directory search service built by the Web community at large and is an easy and fast way to find information relevant to users needs. Unlike closed proprietary directories that rely on small in-house editorial teams, the Open Directory empowers the Web community to review and categorize sites based on their area of interest and expertise. The Open Directory offers 675,000 sites in over 100,000 categories from 229 countries in 44 languages, and is available today at http:/dmoz.org.

"The growth of the Open Directory demonstrates the power of the open source movement and the enthusiasm of the Web community," said Barry Schuler president of the AOL Interactive Services Division. "The Open Directory's growth is unmatched by any other directory of its kind in the world. The integration of Instant Messenger and ICQ will enhance this growth while providing a unique opportunity to add to the directory by suggesting sites, communicating with the contributors and even becoming contributors themselves."

With the integration of AIM and ICQ, users can easily communicate with the Open Directory contributors to suggest new sites and to ask questions. By simply clicking on a contributor profile users can find contact information for AIM, ICQ and e-mail. In addition, a newly integrated content tool allows contributors to quickly and easily publish questions and receive answers which help users better navigate the Open Directory.

Schuler continued: "The Open Directory Project is a powerful search services platform because it is the only directory that scales to the size of the Web."

To promote continued growth of the Open Directory, Netscape makes it available to anyone under a free use license. To date, several leading search companies including Lycos and HotBot.com have integrated the Open Directory into their services. In addition, Netscape announced today that it now uses the Open Directory as the primary search directory on its leading Internet portal, Netcenter.

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