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New Netscape Browser Prototype Available
An anonymous reader writes "Mozillazine.org writes,
"AOL has released a new prototype of Netscape Browser. This new version is almost identical to the first prototype but it's based on Mozilla Firefox 1.0 rather than 0.9.3. The browser does not contain the proposed new design concept or any new features, though there are some performance improvements. As before, only registered testers can download the prototype from community.netscape.com/nscpbrowser. MozillaZine ran an in-depth preview of the first prototype.""
As in... to beta testers, not the average Slashdot reader.
Why don't they make a linux version? Might help bring linux closer to the desktop - netscape still has more recognition that FireFox.
Isnt Netscape and Mozilla the same company?
They've just rebranded and repackaged firefox, why bother? it's stealing their thunder to help promote AOL.
Anyone can tweak and rebadge an open source project, sure they're not breaking the GPL. But you have to ask yourself why would they do it?
Does Netscape know anything about user interface design? That has to be one of the most horrible interfaces I have ever seen, especially coming from such a big company.
using namespace slashdot;
troll::post();
1) Color Scheme No one likes ...
2) Move the menus from there top left location to the top right...
3) In fact let's just move completely away from the familiar IE look people are used to, and scare them off
3) Built in Toolbars most people don't want
4)
5) Profit?
I still think IE is the best, most reliable and compatible all-round browser, especially since SP2, with pop-up blocking etc. Go ahead, hang me!
does not contain [...] new features, and [...] only registered testers can download
Yay for out of context quoting!
Aside from being an alternative, how is this in any way better than Internet Explorer or Firefox itself?
Don't get me wrong, I like having more options to choose from. I just want to know why, at this point, I should choose Netscape? After all, that MozillaZine review basically said the interface was horrible...
How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
We are sorry, but you will need to enable cookies and Javascript to use your Screen Name with this site.
Click here to return to Netscape Channels or here to try again after you have enabled cookies and Javascript in your browser.
http://my.screenname.aol.com/badbrowser.psp?sit
sorry but visiting Netscape reminds me of visiting a domain squatters site or those other seedy portals, hijacked by their demands and presenting as little content as possible with maximum advertising prominence, why anyone would want to visit Netscape by choice is a mystery, its a horrible experience
uggh
This looks a lot like the iPod+HP strategy to me. Netscape is still a fairly well-known brand, and many users will probably trust a browser from them more than they would from a company they know nothing about (Mozilla). Despite the fact that the Netscape Browser is inferior to Firefox, it's still easily better than IE and will help reach the goal of reducing malicious programs that spawn through Microsoft's security holes.
If you look at the taskbar in the screenshot, it proves that Netscape was already around in the 30's :)
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
nobody downloading this program.
/. effect will happen here.
I doubt the
Laws are for people with no friends.
exactly why anyone would want this when they can already get Firefox?
Reject Fear - Embrace Hope
Why does Netscape.com look an awful lot like Google?
Give a man fire, and you warm him for the night. Set a man on fire, and you warm him for the rest of his life.
"Geeko" ;-) Now there's an apt slip if ever I saw one! (BTW, it's Gecko, as in the small lizard...) (and yes I use Firefox so I'm not knocking Gecko before anyone gets all precious...)
Didn't say they were stealing their product, just stealing the buzz and limelight. Firefox is a popular browser and AOL were always talking about how they would stop using IE as their browser engine and use Mozilla.
Well the switch never happened and that deprived Mozilla of some valueable testing and customer base. AOL are now riding on the recent popularity and migration towards Firefox.
the gecko active-x control is terrible, they must've had months of pain getting it working
Nothing costs nothing
I tried to download the new netscape, it asked for my AOL instant messanger ID, which I gave and then asked me to present a Group Regestration Number, becasue i was not yet a member of the testing group. I would love to try it out, can someone invite me. As you can see I can be reached by emailing bestadvocate at linuxmail dot org. Thanks all
my sig
Every year, Sun put OpenOffice in a box, and sell it as Staroffice. Fair enough, OpenOffice was developed from Sun's Staroffice after Sun released the source. So fair enough, Sun have supported the product from the start, and deserve to earn from it.
It's pleasing the same reversal of commercial to opensource with Mozilla and Netscape. I think other companies can learn from how Sun and Netscape are now profiting from the benefits of open development. Think of it, 5 years ago, they were both badly losing to Microsoft, but they released the source, and now it's had 5 years of free development. It doesn't matter if someone's compiled OpenOffice or a business has bought StarOffice in a box with manuals, they're still benefiting from open-source.
You have to be a registered betatester inorder to try this downscaled version of Firefox, where we have s/Firefox/Netscape/g
Here are my reaction to a new version of different browsers:
...And the crap continues...
FF: Let's rock...
Netscape: Ya, Ok I can see.
IE:
So tell me when there is a new release of FF.
Anyone else see a similarity between this planed browser of theirs seems to and Realplayer companies artworks and cazy layouts?
my sig
It starts in Gecko mode by default. I THINK new tabs start in Gecko mode, EVEN IF the current tab is in IE mode.
However, it will automatically switch a tab to IE mode if you go to certain sites, for example, microsoft.com (which means that Windows Update SHOULD work (on the older beta, it just crashed it).
Translation: The New Netscape is Internet Explorer. The new netscape will catch ActiveX controls, viruses, spyware, and all the other good features of IE.
Average Joe user will download the new netscape. The first page that doesn't display right they'll switch to the NetscapeIE, and they will never switch it to Gecko. Then their machine gets plugged with spyware, then it becomes:
"That Netscape Mozzarella thing is no good, I got infected anyway. What a bunch of fakers"
They aren't using it. They are using the Neptune plugin developed by MeadCo. AOL just licensed it for redistribution from them. AOL has no developers left who could write 20 lines of decent code anymore.
Netscape to me, is like Firefox, only with spyware and bloated AOL bundled applications.
One of my Nieces visited our house recently for a party we had. She wanted to see one of her pop singers, and in order to see the video from AOL, some AOL software needed to be installed in Firefox, after that my system went crazy, locked up a lot, lost the network connection, and the software seems to want to phone home. I am told that the software installed is part of the Netscape browser bundle. I'll be sure to stick with Firefox sans the AOL software, after I get done reformatting my system to get their Spyware off my computer.
Thanks, but no thanks. Netscape was cool before AOL bought them out. Now Firefox is cool.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
Well, I never thought I'd see the day that Slashdot promotes AOL...
PocketGamer.org - For the gamer on the go!
That has to be one of the most horrible interfaces I have ever seen
Thank God I use Linux!
Hosting 20G hd, 1Tb bw! ssh $7.95
Every time you butcher the engine's name, God shoots a hippie. Seriously, that made me cry.
Anyway, I think that the general strategy is to run Gecko whenever possible, and then switch to the IE engine on certain "blacklisted" pages; ideally, a notice would be displayed saying that x page must be displayed in "legacy" mode when IE's engine is pulled out, to give site designers some incentive to write clean code.
A typical layperson hears "Netscape", and they immediately think of that browser that was real popular a while ago; it's familiar. They can trust it. Firefox, though, seems unfortunately to have been stigmatized as an "underground" or "hacker" project among the unwashed masses. You and I might not bother with Netscape, but Joe and Susy Blow will definitely pay some attention to it, and that's what really counts in this browser battle, since the Blows happen to be a very large family.
Anyone got a link to download it ? I don't feel like signing up and such.
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Although these menus do look weird at first, the idea seems interesting. Only some real life testing would tell if it's a good choice, but moving the menus is a good way to save some screen room.
On the flip side, it's harder to "grab" the window to move it, but do people really do that a lot, now that tabbed browsing is going mainstream?
It looks like you can download this Netscape-branded Firefox if you have an AIM screenname. If I am successful in downloading, I wonder how well this will run in WINE.
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theguywhosaid writes An Anonymous Coward writes that An anonymous reader writes "Mozillazine.org writes, ...
Okay, I downloaded NSBrowserSetup-Full.exe off of P2P and it installed flawlessly under WINE without messing with my config. Kudos to Netscape for creating a browser that runs so well under WINE. Playing with this Netscape-branded Firefox in Slackware Linux via WINE was fun. My complaints are that it feels like I'm using AOL's browser. There is too many bells & whistles for this browser to be practical however (the weather thing is annoying, and it tries to sign me in with my screenname. Also the browser seems to pop up a dialog everytime I do something!) The only thing that resembles Firefox really is the way it improperly renders Slashdot's crappy HTML.
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For each profile, you can set the Display Engine (Display like Internet Explorer/Display like Netscape, i.e. Gecko) and configure popup, image, ActiveX, Java, JavaScript, and cookie controls. If IE is selected as the display engine for that profile, the advanced JavaScript settings are unavailable. If Netscape is selected, the ActiveX checkbox is unavailable. Yes, you can easily disable ActiveX even when using the IE engine, and using the IE engine in the first place can be restricted to certain sites.
By default, the Default profile is set to use Netscape/Gecko. The Local Files profile is set to display like IE.
The Site Controls UI displays a security rating for each profile according to its settings. Using Gecko or IE with ActiveX disabled is considered Medium level of security. IE with ActiveX enabled is rated Low. Disabling both Java and JavaScript using either engine is rated High.
Alot of the things that are nice in Firefox do not exist in this browser. Like the find-as-you-type. It doesn't have this. Instead it uses the default Windows find dialog in WINE, which is ugly. When you right click, there is never a menu that pops up. If you view the site as Internet Explorer, the browser hangs. I do have MSIE 6 installed and workung under WINE, but for some reason Netscape can't work as an IE control under WINE.
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I am giving up my mod points to state that this is quite possibly the most ugly, disgusting, cluttered, useless, overdone and underthought interface I have ever seen on ANYTHING. Menus justified to the right? what sort of crack are they smoking. Even for a windows app this is bad. It's worse than realplayer. I've never seen so many useless options in my life. It's like the polar opposite of Safari.
It's hideous, yet I can't look away.
Why does AOL keep revving up Netscape, while continuing to use the Spyglass/IE browser as the core of the AOL browser? It's confusing, and of course their browser itself is a travesty, as always.
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make install -not war