Yes, Netscape still exists. Today, it’s a subsidiary of America Online, which is owned by Time Warner, itself an empire to rival Microsoft. In the years since the merger, Netscape has branched out, providing low-cost dial-up Internet service (www.getnetscape.com), along with its signature browser (browser .netscape.com) and Netcenter portal (netcenter.netscape.com).Over the years, Netscape has aided various organizations that would compete against Microsoft or curb its more controversial business tactics. And recently, the company has even turned Microsoft’s own browser against it.
The Browser Netscape’s Navigator browser was king of the hill in the mid-1990s, when the Internet exploded in popularity. And then it came to pass that Microsoftincorporated its competing Internet Explorer browser into Windows 95, appearing to make it free to the end user. Based on Mosaic, an early browser that gave Netscape its start as well, IE improved steadily, and quickly became a worthy competitor. Eroding market share forced Netscape to give away its Navigator browser and complementary Communicator suite for free, too, in a doomed attempt to remain dominant. (Most users were using it for free anyway.) It didn’t help that IE pulled ahead of Navigator in the performance and stability departments. Fortunes reversed, IE’s market share soared into the 80th and 90th percentiles, and soon Netscape was adrift without a rudder. Later, though, Microsoft’s tactics became a key plank of the Department of Justice antitrust charges against it, mainly because of its claim that IE was so integrated into Windows that the browser couldn’t be removed from the code base in a practical way. Mozilla. Fast-forward to the present day. IE, now in version 6.0 and change, still dominates the browser landscape. However, the plates are shifting beneath it. Opera and Apple’s Safari still claim small slices of the pie, but it is an opensource browser the Mozilla Foundation (www.mozilla.org) developed that is winning converts from the blue “e.” “Mozilla was the operating name for the open-source effort behind the browser code,” says Netscape spokesman Andrew Weinstein, and that’s the name Netscape’s browser development team kept when AOL spun it off as a new foundation.
“We provided more than $2 million in startup capital, we provided intellectual property, we provided some facilities and technical support, and actually some human resources as well for them,” Weinstein says. After its defeat at Microsoft’s hands, it might have amused Netscape to support the open-source movement in this way. After all, to a behemoth that built its wealth on the sale of OSes and apps, such as Microsoft, the free and easy licensing of open-source softwareNetscape sends updated whitelists and blacklists to Netscape 8 on a regular basis, so you’re more likely to be protected when visiting a new site that could be harboring malware.seemed like the proverbial little mouse in the elephant pen. Mozilla’s browser engine, Gecko, founded a whole family of browsers, including one named Mozilla. However, the organization’s new Firefox browser shows the greatest potential for taking back Microsoft’s share of the market. It has certainly grabbed its share of headlines this year. Netscape 8.
Netscape based its latest browser, Netscape 8.0.2 (as of press time), on Firefox 1.0.3. Revisions are on the way as several Firefox security vulnerabilities have come to light. Some Web developers also questioned Netscape 8’s behavior regarding IE and Windows’ Registry. “There were some updates that we made to improve the browser’s features and functionality, but it has performed exactly as we hoped it would and the feedback from users has been terrific on it,” says Weinstein. In a unique twist, Netscape 8 can switch between Firefox and IE to render different Web sites’ pages. This lets users enjoy the relative security of surfing with Firefox, yet benefit from IE’s broad compatibility when needed. Users can specify which engine to use for each site they visit or change rendering engines on the fly. Netscape 8 “also ‘surfaces’ a lot of features and functionality that may exist in other browsers but are tougher to find,” Weinstein says. For instance, when a user visits a site that offers an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed, one click adds that feed to the scrolling headline bar. The browser features regularly updated lists of untrustworthy sites (blacklists) and trusted ones (whitelists). These trigger customizable security settings, so Netscape can automatically raise the gangplank, so to speak, when the user sails to a site flying a virtual Jolly Roger. “It’s the only browser currently available that takes that step to add security for users,” Weinstein says. Netscape 8 offers tabbed browsing, blocks pop-ups, and can also warn the user against phishing scam sites. For privacy, you can set Netscape 8 to clear its cache and history whenever you close the browser. It even thwarts some spyware.Since its merger with AOL in late 1998, Netscape has kept a lower profile. It sold its business offerings, such as Web content search and some portals, to Sun Microsystems and other buyers. However, the company still offers its Netcenter portals for consumers, now spiffed up with Flash content and articles that appear in “drawers.”
The other two tiers of today’s Netscape are its browser and ISP service, both of which seem a little redundant considering that AOL offers its own versions of both. Not so, Weinstein says. “They appeal to different users. [Netscape users] may want to customize their browsing experience, or they may want to use a more advanced browser that allows them to choose which settings they want in which pages. Or they may want to use an ISP that only provides connectivity and then lets them decide which features and functionality they want.” In contrast, AOL provides more of a package deal that limits the choices a user must make, Weinstein adds. Netscape launched its dial-up Internet service in 2004. It starts at $9.95 per month, with à la carte options, such as antivirus protection, costing more. Of course, Netscape has a smaller market share than AOL, which continued to lead in dial-up subscribers in the first quarter of 2005 with 29% of the U.S. market (TNS Telecoms, July 2005). Netscape also provides useful downloads, such as a free pop-up blocker for IE (channels.netscape.com/netcenter /search/install.jsp). You can get a free Netscape.com email address at https:// my.screenname.aol.com/_cqr/registra tion/initRegistration.psp. And for a home page you can customize with the current information you want, check out My Netscape at my.netscape.com. Weinstein kept mum about Netscape’s future plans, save to mention security and usability improvements to the browser. If it’s been a while since you looked at Netscape, take a look. It might just make your Internet voyage smoother sailing.
