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Netscape 8 Breaks IE XML
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has alerted users that Netscape's latest browser appears to break the XML rendering capabilities in Microsoft Internet Explorer. Dave Massy, a senior programme manager for IE, warned users in a blog posting that after installing Netscape 8, IE will render XML files as a blank page, including XML files that have an XSLT transformation. What a week for Netscape 8.0; first the browser needed several fixes hours after its release, then it was discovered that without IE installed, Netscape 8.0 will not install, and now IE needs Netscape uninstalled to work."
I stopped using Netscape after AOL bought it! Kept using NS4.7 (and later IE), until Firefox appeared.
Repeat after me: Netscape, Is, Now, Just, A, Brand.
I see no reason to use netscape since mozilla came out and now i use firefox.
I think Netscape it just mozilla a few (minor) versions back + netstcape "branding" modifications.
But i could be wrong, I did not used it in a while, I have note even seen it installed anywhere.
I'm wondering why they even bother to release it instead of promoting mozilla and/or firefox, seems like a waste of energy to me.
instance where an arbitrary and totally meaningless deadline for launch wrecked havoc on software.
Releasing Netscape based on Firefox 1.03 after 1.04 was available with important security fixes was completely idiotic if a key differentiator of Netscape is supposed to be superior security!
And then releasing an updated version within 24 hours based on 1.04 to show the world they could simply have delayed the initial launch by a day in the first place proved their mismanagement (any excuse about changing to 1.04 being complex and delaying the launch too much went out the window).
Now their bragging rights about being able to switch betweeen IE and Firefox rendering is damaged because they didn't test enough to find out if their product breaks existing functionality like displaying XML?
Not Netscape-specific but for software in general...Managers, get a clue, if you don't like deadlines given by engineers then remove features until they can provide timeframes that are acceptable. And you engineers that are too cowardly to say "No, that cannot be done by that time unless we eliminate/postpone some of the requirements" get some balls.
You *could* screw up a *nix system with a bad installer, but it is harder to do for a couple of reasons:
1 -- you usually only need to run the installer as root if you are doing a system-wide installation. If it is just for you it is easier just to install it in your home folder. Personally, I do that fairly often. I have an updated version of whatever I was installing in my space and can fall back on the system-wide version if I foobar it somehow.
2 -- *nix apps are generally more self-contained than Windows apps. The fact that much of the configuration information for Windows programs resides in the registry is just asking for problems. For example:
If program A uses protocol X and program B does so also, installing B may change registry entries concerning protocol X so that they match its needs. Program A stops working with protocol X.
The *nix tradition of self-contained configuration files avoids the collisions that can arise in the registry.
So again, YES, it is possible for an installer to completely wreck a *nix box BUT it is much less likely.
Life is short: void the warranty.
I'm afraid it's worse than simply "a waste of time". Apparently, Netscape 8 incorporates the IE rendering engine, and uses it by default for "trusted" sites. This is a seditious act by AOL to tie the Netscape brand to the Windows platform, and shits on the web standards the Mozilla team has worked so hard to support.
Now that Netscape 8 has been shown to corrupt IE installations, Microsoft can make statements about how alternative browsers are a security issue. Thanks a lot AOL. Netscape would be better off dead and buried.
They're just trying to address one of the major complaints that people have had about non-IE browsers.
The complaint that it's not IE? Why even bother then, everyone capable of running IE (Windows users) already have it. Running IE with a different skin is no different than firing up iexplore.exe.
Since you didn't grok my comment about web standards, I assume you're not a developer. Here's the deal: IE is not very good at supporting web standards like CSS, PNG, etc. It also encourages sloppy markup. By incorporating IE, Netscape will lessen the pressure on developers to write standards-compliant code. At the same time, the reliance on IE destroys the cross-platform nature of the browser, and by proxy, the web itself.
Even with Firefox having a 10% marketshare, there is still the entrenched concept of there being two browsers: IE & Netscape. What happens when Netscape has, essentially, become just another IE wrapper? Nothing good can come of this.
Remember the deals AOL made in the past to keep their icon in the Windows default install. I sense something similar is afoot.