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Netscape 7.1 Released
Phil writes "Netscape has just released the eagerly-awaited Netscape 7.1 (previously known by its codename, 'Buffy') for Windows, Mac OS and Linux. The new version is based on Mozilla 1.4, which is due out later today. Netscape 7.1 features many improvements over 7.02 including even better CSS support, spam filters, find-as-you-type, automatic image resizing, more customization via about:config, Web development tools, Palm synchronization and more. Plus, for the first time, ChatZilla (Mozilla's IRC client) is included in the full install. More information can be found at Netscape Browser Central and in this MozillaZine article. The release is available from Netscape's download page, via FTP or on CD."
I hate getting old data because the browser is caching. Is it easy to totally turn caching off? Under certain circumstances, in mac IE, you can even hit reload and get an old copy.
-Libertarian secular transhumanist
Yes, because they (hopefully) will be feeding AOL with a new browser to wean users away from IE.
That being said, however, what advantages does the Netscape version of Mozilla have?
I'll continue to use Mozilla firebird and thunderbird, thank you very much. Why? Same code, basically, but Mozilla doesn't litter every spot on my computer with AOL icons, in my favorites, start menu, programs menu, etc.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Mozilla 1.4 is out too. jason
jason
Have a good day?! Impossible! I'm at work!
Netscape could resist naming it Netscape 8 ? The apocalypse is near !
Winamp 3's IRC client is better than Mozilla's
There may be other features that are hidden or disabled as well, but that's enough for me to go with the Mozilla flavor.
Subscribers can see articles in the future? So what? Everyone gets to see them in the future.
Yes, I do care about Netscape. Not necessarily because I think Netscape is the raddest, most elite browser out there, but because without Netscape, there would be no Mozilla. Let's face it, Mozilla relies on Netscape, and as a result, AOL, for life support.
If AOL should decide that Netscape isn't worth developing anymore, and decides to pull the plug on the few full-time Netscape/Mozilla developers remaining, as well as the resources dedicated to Netscape/Mozilla (such as the web servers), Mozilla would be in some serious doo-doo.
To show my support and to show AOL that indeed at least someone is interested in Netscape, I have already pre-ordered a Netscape 7.1 CD with Guide book. I may not ever use it, but at least AOL and Netscape knows that someone out there appreciates their efforts and may continue developing the core for one of the finest browsers out there, Firebird.
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde
AOL ad sales reps?
sulli
RTFJ.
I've been personally hooked on OS.X since its beta days. Originally the only games in town were OmniWeb (preferred), IE (ack), and Netscape (good 2nd choice).
Back in my Windows days IE never really got my attention -- it was always Netscape (up to 4.79 was decent).
The releases of Netscape that followed (Windows or OS.X) were pretty much not installed/forgotten. On the Windows end it was Mozilla/Opera and on OS.X 99% Safari.
This Netscape will get installed and hit the distribution cycle. It is very fast on OS.X and worth taking a look at (!)
Karma: SELECT `karma` FROM `users` WHERE `userid`=138474;
A reload that doesn't reload everything is very useful if you don't want to spend time reloading all the graphics on a page too. On a page like the /. front page, the difference on a slow line can be 3 seconds versus 30 seconds.
It's also useful if a page is incomplete.
More of interest with the Netscape release is
a) What has changed from the previous version of Netscape, and
b) What has changed from the corresponding version of Mozilla that it's built on.
If it's just adding the same AOL add-ons (or should I say ad-ons?) to a newer version of Mozilla than before, I'd say move on, there's nothing to see here.
Regards,
--
*Art
Have you ever used a browser other than IE? Every other browser I've used in the last year has offered a better browsing experience than IE. Mozilla has tabbed browsing and more recently pop up blocking. Phoenix has had both for a while. Plus IE doesn't render especially fast, and lacks a number of other features contained in most Gecko browsers. There are some reasons to use IE of course, like for plugins that only work in IE.
There is obviously good reason to look beyond IE though.
Feel free to mod me "-1 - Angry Jerk".
A full reload is pointless on most sites. Why bother reloading title.gif when you want to see if there are any new slashdot stories? It's a waste of bandwidth.
It sucks that the shift-reload trick is undocumented, but you could easily fix that.
This is my 700th post. Hooray for me!
--
the strongest word is still the word "free"
Press F11 in Mozilla 1.4, and you get a full screen, just like IEs.
:)
Better, actually, as the address bar is still there.
Moz's (and NS's) form function is great. Different from IE's, but still great.
before its slashdotted Well, that is a good way to keep it from being /.'ed Post the link on /.
1) Executives might be willing to try Netscape, but not Mozilla, due to name recognition.
2) Mail client can check AOL accounts & Netscape webmail accounts
3) Integrated AIM. There's integrated ICQ too, but it's worthless as it uses the same UI as AIM (i.e. no single message mode).
4) Spellcheck (yes it's available as an addon to Mozilla)
5) Java and the most popular plugins are included. So it's easier for the average person to set up.
6) Probably not the case on this release due to simultaneous releases, but in the past, Netscape took stable Mozilla branches and did futher bugfixes before releasing, resulting in a better product.
I'd use Netscape over Mozilla if they'd just leave in the "Block Images from Server" option in Netscape.
Because Microsoft released Internet Explorer 5 -- Netscape wanted to be "one better".
This numbers game is also why you now have Redhat and Mandrake 9 -- SuSE will surely follow suit, or jump to from 8.2 to 9 or 10 (even though SuSE 8.2 has more newer stuff than RedHat 9), knowing that customers are stupid enough to buy the highest number, even if the products are different.
There's also the jump from SunOS 2.6 to Solaris 7 -- presumably to catch up with IRIX 6.2 and NT 4 and NT 5 (which Microsoft promptly relabeled 2000 to be ahead in the numbers game).
Did I mention the jump from Java 1.1 to Java 2 (which is Java 1.2)? Or the weird BIND 4 to BIND 8 version jump?
Now I'm saving to buy myself Windows 2003. Proof by numbers, it's *got* to be 0.15% better than Windows 2000!
Regards,
--
*Art
Netscape has SNS support for AOL/Netscape/Compuserve users. SNS passes the AOL login to sites which need to authenticate - sort of a "single sign-on for the web". Very cool if you're an AOL user.
Mozilla adds popup blocking support.
I haven't tried the new Mozilla or Netscape yet, but in using Mozilla 1.4a vs. Netscape 7.0 on Solaris 8 Mozilla wins hands down. Netscape will take several seconds to regain any control quite often, and the integrated AIM client just hangs for 10 seconds or so before (slowly) responding. Those sort of things may be fixed in Netscape 7.1, but I haven't tried it yet...
I for one like having my browser decrypt Content Scramble System encoded DVDs.
sulli
RTFJ.
...for one thing, you can choose to install it without the mail/news or IRC chat client at all, cutting down on the size. Don't use the email, you don't need the Palm sync -- but those who do might appreciate it.
If you get the browser, then you still get Composer with it at minimum. If you want a browser only, then feel free to contribute to the development of Mozilla Firebird, which is even more streamlined than the browser-only install.
Chill out, the Moz developers know that bloat is a common complaint, and they're doing what they can about it. But one thing at a time, since every feature you don't want is one some other user can't live without.
... I have to say that Netscape/Mozilla has not only shocked me with improvements in reliability and speed, but has in fact pulled me away from IE/Outlook Express which I swore were the greatest Web/EMail tools. I remember back in the days of Netscape 4.X. The darn thing would take forever to load, suck up my computer's resources, and consistantly crash on specific web pages. Being a web-developer made it worse... It was such a pain having to remove nifty DHTML effects from my company's website (or incorperate code to modify HTML output for Netscape) because some people out there were still using it. I think I'm going too in depth on my point here... Compared to what Nescape USED to be, the current Mozilla/Netscape software is incredible. And this is coming from a WINDOWS user. ;) The best thing Nescape ever did was make their browser open srouce (in my opinion). And... The free Bayesian spam filter in the Mozilla mail client has amazed me. I NEVER thought that free technology existed that provided such reliable and accurate spam filtering. I am down from 14 spam messages per day to maybe 1 at most per day. I've only had 2 false positives since I started using it 3 weeks ago.
Alright. I'll stop rambling on this matter. I've just been waiting a while now to outlet my good experiences with Mozilla, especially after hating it so much in the past. *Two thumbs up*
It's so strange. I look at the writeup for the new Netscape release, and when the poster talks about the new features, the links they provide are links to mozilla.org pages. I look at the Netscape main page and I can't even tell that they make a browser. The "Downloads" link is tucked away in the upper-left corner. Even today, when they're releasing a new version, there's no hint of it even on their main page!! Instead the big deal is "10 things everyone should do before turning 30". Whaa?? Then, there's the awful pain of trying to install the Netscape version. The last time I installed a version of the Netscape-branded Mozilla, I had AOL crap littering my system everywhere.
On the other hand, when I go to the Mozilla site everything is clear. It's obvious where to download the version of Mozilla I want for the platform I want. It's also normally 2 or 3 versions ahead of the Netscape-branded release, and the install process is clean and painless.
Given all that, who are the poor sods downloading and installing Netscape?? I guess they have enough knowledge of computers to be able to install an alternative to IE, but not enough to be able to know about Mozilla? Can there really be more than a handfull of these people, and can't they be rescued and re-educated?
In the Release notes, Linux users need to be aware of the following:
- Pages with Flash will, in worst cases, crash or hang your browser.
- Netscape will hang if a Flash plugin tries to play audio and the audio device is already in use
- Flash may crash with Exported X Display
- Java is not included with the Linux installer for Netscape 7.1. Download Java version 1.4.2 or later at the Java web site
- You may encounter problems if you install Netscape in a root user environment then run as another user.
- Loading a page that contains a Flash plugin may cause Netscape to lock up if you are using an audio application.
Everyone else need to be aware of the following:
- For security reasons, Netscape does not allow connections to certain ports. To override this on a per-port basis, add a comma separated list of ports to defaults/all.js
- POP email becomes unusable if the profile is stored on a network drive.
- Stll no NTFS Support
- Netscape does not warn the user of a low disk space condition.
- Netscape may temporarily hang during LDAP autocomplete if network connectivity is broken.
- Do not share a profile between Netscape and Mozilla browsers. Doing this can lead to unpredictable results, which may include loss of Search settings and preferences and unchecked growth of the Bookmarks file (large enough to freeze your system).
- When visiting a SSL enabled site, the lock icon will take on a yellow background, and will not indicate the strength of the SSL encryption used, whether it is 40 bit, 56 bit, or 128 bit.
Dolemite
_________________
Save the World! Use a Quote!
Good grief, did you just admit to using Windows? On Slashdot? Are you INSANE?
I browse Slashdot at +3, Funny
Yeah, Netscape is good. I haven't read all the comments here, but there are (as always) comments like ''Why not use Mozilla instead?''
... umm... sorry, I forgot the adress. I tell you tomorrow.'' It's more coplicated. Also: what happens, if the person does not provide the installer any more? Who guaranties me and my friends that the webpage is still up in a month or two.
I tell you why:
Netscape has more features and is easier for people without good computer knowledge.
I prefer Mozilla Firebird, but the plain MF is not for normal users.
They have to ''unzip'' it, they have to copy Flash and other plugins into the plugins directory, they have to install Java manually and so on.
OTOH Netscape:
It comes with good, licensed spell checking (sorry, but OSS spell checkers suck - at least non-english ones), there's AIM and ICQ support, all important plugins are bundled, and Netscape adds important settings to the Windows registry (the location where it's installed for 3rd party plugins - a small, but important setting).
Currently I create installer builds of Mozilla Firebird (bundled with Flash and Java) for my friends, but that's only an acceptable solution for a handful of people.
It's easier to point to a simple URL than giving a CD with my custom MF to everyone.
Yes I know, there are also installer builds of Mozilla Firebird available on the net, but that's sometimes even too complicated for a few of my friends.
When I say ''Get Netscape. It's on Netscape dot com.'' It's easy.
When I say ''Get Mozilla Firebird. It's on geocities dot com slash blablabla slash
AOL is behind Netscape. I can be sure that Netscape will last a while. Netscape is easy to find, easy to install, and easy to use. That's why Netscape is good.