AOL Releases Client for Mac OS X with Gecko Browser

DietFluffy writes "America Online released an update to their Mac OS X client. The built-in browser is powered by Gecko! However, America Online plans to stick with Internet Explorer for their Windows client. Will this make web designers think twice about tailoring their web pages to Internet Explorer? Or will they ignore this, given that the Windows client will still have Internet Explorer as the default browser?" And if this goes well, will the Windows version eventually use a Gecko-based browser, too?

Comments

Do we hate AOL today?

[joshua404]

I can't remember - Is AOL the evil corporate empire today or are they the champions fighting against M$? Let me check my calendar..

Re:Do we hate AOL today?

[Atzanteol]

I don't think companies are evil, per se. It's their actions that are good or bad. Here, slashdot is pointing out a favorable change in AOL. Many will think it is a Good Thing(TM). If they then mandate 20 pop-up ads when people load their software, it will be a Bad Thing(TM).

Re:8.0 Uses Gecko

[jmu1]

Based on what information? Do you have a URL? As I've heard it on NPR several times that they won't be switching.

Re:8.0 Uses Gecko

[Ami Ganguli]

We don't know that yet, and in fact the latest beta reverted to IE.

AOL has been really coy about their plans in this regard. Nobody knows what they're up to. Latest evidence suggests that Gecko will go to smaller platforms first (Compuserve, Mac) and larger platforms later on. This makes some sense for AOL, since it reduces the risk of alienating their mainstream customers.

I use and support the following

[DeadBugs]

AOL is not all bad. I use the following

Gnutella

WinAmp

IM

Mozilla

Re:Decent Web Designers shouldn't worry...

[mccalli]

Oh yeah - all web designs should also work with Lynx, because we really love those geeky people who feel the need to surf in text

Well...there are also blind web surfers. Both CSS and HTML explicitly support markup and styling for non-graphical browsers.

Cheers,
Ian

Mac IE != Windows IE

[salimma]

Mac IE is a totally separate product from its Windows counterpart. I'm not too sure about whether it exposes itself as a DCOM component like WinIE, and thus is easily embeddable into other programs, but its rendering engine is definitely different - MacIE passes Mozilla's rendering tests, whereas WinIE does not.

On the other hand, MacIE has incomplete support for certificates - try going to a site with a certificate from an unknown (to IE) provider in MacIE and it would not let you in (in version 5.1 and under at least).

Besides, they already have a browser product that uses Gecko - the one used by their subsidiary, Compuserve. It makes sense to migrate AOL on Windows last, since there is no pressing need.

I wish my competitors ignored AOL...

[alexhmit01]

AOL is the SINGLE most important demographic for anyone in the B2C space. They are followed closely by people that use MSN's search engine. People that use Yahoo's search engine are a distant third.

People that run NS6/Mozilla are meaningless. Google searchers with any browser are kinda worthless.

NS4 users are important, you get people at work at low-tech companies.

I mean, it depends what you are doing. If you are building crazy flash sites with loud annoying noises, ignore AOL. My sites try to make money, like hell I'll ignore the largest contingent of shoppers, just because people think that they are stupid.

I'll take an semi-illiterate user running AOL 5.0 on an 800x600 monitor visiting my site over a "1337 Linux Hacker" running a Mozilla beta shopping me and 12 competitors to save 50 cents...

Alex