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Netscape Releases Security Update
daria42 writes "Less than 24 hours after releasing Netscape 8, Netscape has released a security patch bringing the browser up to version 8.0.1. The patch address security vulnerabilities in version 1.0.3 of the Firefox code on which Netscape is based. The update comes amid online criticism from Firefox developers that the browser was insecure."
ZDNet Australia has a scathing report on problems with Netscape's original 8.0 release, which shipped with known critical security bugs. ZDNet notes that several key Mozilla devs have lashed out at Netscape, including Firefox lead developer Ben Goodger, who posted a live exploit of the known vulnerability. Gervase Markham, another Mozilla employee found Netscape's claim that Firefox 1.0.4 is "outdated" ridiculous. Ali Ebrahim, another contributor commented that Netscape's claim of "more security choices" is based on a false premise. To their credit, Netscape has since released Netscape 8.0.1, based on Firefox 1.0.4 which plugs the most severe known issues, though the question still remains as to why they released 8.0 in the first place if it contained such severe security issues.
There were only 3 bugs fixed in 8.0.1, not 44! See the Release Notes for yourself.
As long as you abide by the license of the code, you can do that. Open source and all that...
As I recall from yesterday's news, one thing Netscape will give you that Firefox does not is "a toggle which allows switching between Mozilla and Microsoft's rendering engines as needed." The Best of Both Worlds(TM)
http://nerdfortress.com/
Firefox is open source.
Now, you've got me there. Uh...brand recognition? Maybe?
That's the luxury software developers have that civil engineers don't. Its not exactly possible to go back and fix a mistake you made while building a multi-million dollar bridge.
That's what you think. New structures are found to be unsound all the time, which usually requires that the structure be patched in some form or another.
Take the case of the London Millennium Bridge which suffered from Resonant vibration (a common problem with suspension bridges). It wasn't planned for because it was assumed that such vibrations couldn't happen from mere pedestrian traffic. The solution was to retrofit 37 fluid-viscous dampers and 52 tuned mass dampeners.
In short, don't think that engineering is that much different from software. They're quite similar, to the point of being frightening.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
> Why did Mozilla release Netscape 8...?
Um, Mozilla didn't release it -- AOL did.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
The big deal with Netscape 8 is that it offers the choice of using the IE or Firefox/Gecko rendering engine on different pages. For instance, you can have it set to display /. using the Gecko engine, while using the IE engine to render your company's intranet page (you know, the one that requires that you use IE for "full functionality"). The main reason for it, however, is for the brand recognition that AOL gets out of it. Of course, the dual-rendering ability will only complicate matters for Joe Sixtooth.
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
I installed Netscape 8 the day it came out for testing purposes. I saw this story, went to Netscape with their default skin and found they had nothing similiar to the Firefox's red ! to alert me that updates were necessary. I went to Tools->Advanced->Software Update and found Automatically Download and install updates was checked by default, so I checked my UA string to find it was still Netscape 8.0. Went back to Software Update and ran Check Now and it did not find any updates. Switched to their other theme (I do appreciate it coming with two themes provided for users to choose from) and found no icon next to that throbber either (as one might expect). Will this be turned on/fixed in the future, or was the functionality for this in the 17 MB minimum hard drive space system requirements difference between it and Firefox?
This coupled with the fact that Firefox themes/extensions do not work and the fact that it has twice the recommended system requirement for processor speed and memory (which seems accurate as it seems slower than Firefox and I am somewhere in between Firefox and Netscape's recoomended CPU speed) are just a few of the reasons I will not switch back.