Netscape Browser
Netscape is Officially Dead
 |
On December 28, 2007, Netscape developers announced that AOL would
discontinue their web browser on February 1, 2008, due to low market share. |
http://blog.netscape.com/2007/12/28/end-of-support-for-netscape
Netscape's development director, Tom Drapeau, wrote: "AOL's focus on
transitioning to an ad-supported Web business leaves little room for the size of
investment needed to get the Netscape browser to a point many of its fans expect
it to be."
AOL acquired Netscape in a $4.2 billion deal in 1998. In 2003 the Mozilla Foundation separated from Netscape and AOL with its
former parent providing a $2 million dollar parting gift.
Netscape had been based on Mozilla code since Netscape
version 6.
The Netscape Problem
Netscape's 4.x series of browsers had a poor support for CSS and no
support for XML.
It took Netscape nearly three and a half years after the release of 4.0, to
produce its next generation browser. This delay has clearly
hurt Netscape's possibilities to dominate the browser market.
Netscape Navigator 9
Netscape Navigator 9 (based on Mozilla Firefox 2) was released in October
2007.
New features in Netscape 9:
- Firefox Features - full support for all Firefox add-ons and plugins
- URL Correction - automatically correct common typos in URLs
- Link Pad - A sidebar feature allowing you to save
URLs without cluttering your bookmarks
- Sidebar Mini Browser - Bookmarks and links can be opened in the sidebar
- Resizeable Textarea - Drag the bottom-right corners of text fields in
forms to add more typing space
- Tab History - Opening a link in a new tab will give the new tab the same
history as the source tab
- OPML Support - import and export your
bookmarks in OPML format
- Combined Stop/Reload button
Netscape 8
Netscape 8.1.2 (based on Mozilla Firefox) was released in September 2006.
New features in Netscape 8:
- Site Controls (dual rendering engine)
- Multi-Bar (dynamic toolbar)
- Form fill/passcard
- Live Content
- Improved tabbed browsing
- Adjust the security level (Java, JavaScript, cookies settings)
- Adware & Spyware protection
- Dynamic Security Center
Older Netscape Versions
Netscape 7 (released in 2002). Based on Mozilla 1.0.1.
Netscape 6 (released in 2000). Based on Mozilla. Support for CSS and XML.
Netscape 5.0 - Netscape skipped the version number 5.
Netscape Communicator 4.0 (released in 1997) Too old. Don't use it.
Netscape Navigator 3.0 (released in 1996). Too old. Don't use it.
Netscape Navigator 2.0 (released in 1996). Too old. Don't use it.
Netscape 1.0 (released in 1994). Too old. Don't use it.
| 
