Netscape 7.0 is Out

MrJones was one of many many users to submit that Netscape has released Navigator 7.0 unto the world. With their dwindling market share, it'll be interesting to see what affect this has on internet users. But here's hoping it makes a dent.

Comments

CNet Review - "Don't switch browsers"

[Anonymous Coward]

The CNET review of 7.0 is here.

Title: Don't switch browsers

Summary:
We had high hopes for Netscape 7.0, but we're sorely disappointed, especially by the missing pop-up suppressor. There's no practical reason to switch from either IE or Mozilla.

Mozillazine has more info...

[edgrale]

So that you wont have to /. mozillazine.org here's the text with links:

Netscape Communications Corporation today launched the final version of Netscape 7.0. This latest release is based on Mozilla 1.0.1, making it the first Netscape browser to be built upon post-1.0 code. The new version boasts several enhancements over the 0.9.4-based Netscape 6.2, including tabbed browsing, the ability to save complete web pages, print preview, site icons (Favicons), a download manager, full screen mode (Windows only), Quick Search within Mail Newsgroups and Address Book, return receipts, mail labels, (Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) S/MIME mail encryption, CSS support in Composer and one-click web page publishing.

Netscape 7.0 also has several features not found in Mozilla. These include the ability to access Netscape Webmail and AOL accounts directly from within Mail Newsgroups, a button to easily toggle the display of My Sidebar in Navigator and P3P (Platform for Privacy Preferences) support for automated cookie handling. Improved instant messaging features including file transfers, Buddy Alerts and Buddy Icons are provided by AOL Instant Messenger for Netscape and ICQ for Netscape. There's also a round throbber with a cool animation.

Netscape 7.0 can be downloaded from Netscape's web site or FTP server. More details can be found at Netscape Browser Central or in the Release Notes.

NS7.0 vs Mozilla

[DrXym]

Before anyone asks, the primary reason to use Netscape over Mozilla is stability. Netscape releases are traditionally clobbered a lot harder than Mozilla which means they crash less. End users like that. It also has some extra frills like AIM/ICQ integration, a spellchecker and links to AOL content such as their Spinner/Radio and My Netscape etc..

If you prefer bleeding edge code with more bugs then use Mozilla. It doesn't have any of the above and has the popup blocker UI. Web developers will also appreciate stuff like the DOM inspector and JS Debugger modules.

Re:NS7.0 vs Mozilla

[DrXym]

It isn't Mozilla 1.0.1. Development continued on the branch and it received a whole slew of fixes that never appeared in Mozilla. All of these are a result of extra testing and nail stability and compatibility even further.

By comparison, Mozilla 1.1 is based off the trunk where the controls on checkins are much less strict and the QA is less intensive.

This means while Mozilla is also an excellent browser, there will be bugs introduced that weren't caught and the chances of crashes or weird behaviour are higher. This might not be an issue for power users, but end users probably care less about the bleeding edge features than about stability. Netscape 7.0 also ties into AOL/Netscape content which is also handy if you want to immediately start using the browser for reading the news, shopping, finding recipes, talking to friends etc.

Re:No anti-popup ads support

[DrXym]

Yes there is, there is just no UI for it. If you want to enable support then read this or search for a popup blocker ui extension.

it's not just the browser

[Ravagin]

One of the main challenges faced in getting users to use standards-compliant browsers over obsolete programs such as Netscape 4-series is also the computers. At places still using older systems or franken-systems, Moz (may just be too hefty for Windows. It doesn't seem as much of a problem on PCs, because IE is available, but many people still use NS4 for the mail client (and I cannot in good conscience tell them that Moz's is overwhelmingly superior, despite weird stuff like NS4 Mail encoding all messages in Rot13 by accident). It is an even bigger challenge with Macs, because many older Macs just won't comfortably run IE/mac, so NS4/mac is the browser of choice for aging Macs.

But saturating the market with standards-compliant browsers is helpful anyway. I could only wish more people knew about Mozilla, for their sake.

You must have popups turned off

[fizbin]

I had turned popups on (a blog comment page required them) and forgotten about it. Visiting Netscape's page pops up a BIG HUGE ad for Netscape 7.

Re:NS Communicator 4.8?

[Lysander Luddite]

They support it because some large companies require Netscape 4 for apps built in house.

Re:Bankers Irony

[Conare]

Mod parent up! The reason that the recent IE certificate bug exists at all is that they don't follow the standard.
A certificate using system MUST reject the certificate if it encounters a critical extension it does not recognize
IE does not process the critical basicConstraints extension (as well as others) and still accepts the certificate. Netscape (even back to version 4) will reject a critical extension that it does not recognize.