Outsourced Netscape Merges Firefox, IE

BetaNews ^ | 30 November, 2004 | Nate Mook

[ShadowAce]

Browser Ping

[Prime Choice]

May the most secure browser win.

[Danae]

Firefox is an Awesome browser! Far superior to IE! I am stunned though, Netscape actually made a smart move, using another companies product! lol Great move for them though.

[Popman]

AOL hopes to reinvigorate a browser whose appeal faded long ago

AOL needs to do a lot more than change the browser if they want to stop losing share.

It is a nice step in the right direction. A day late and several dollars short, but it's a start.

Question: Why would anyone use AOL as a IP?

I took my AOL training wheels off six months into my first PC.

[FreePaul]

AOL? Does anyone still use AOL? I thought that everyone had used up their 1045 X 10⁶ free hours.

[Nick Danger]

The more the merrier. Competition is good.

[elmer fudd]

AOL is an excellent ISP for someone who is computer illiterate and is unable to learn. I hook up and troubleshoot cable internet connections for a living and I run into customers on a regular basis that have no clue as to what they are doing. I can tell them about spyware and recommend programs to stop it and do the same with spam, etc..., but ussually it's a waste of time. They won't update the programs or run them in a timely manner. When a popup comes on the screen telling them their computer may be infected they'll click on it and download more crap.

AOL tends to take care of all that stuff for them. Yes, it does cost too much and everything AOL does can be done better for free if you know how, but for those who don't know how and show little aptitude for learning it is probably the best option. Without the kind of idiot proofing that AOL provides they end up with slow, unstable computers that are bogged down by spyware, viruses and hackers.

[goldstategop]

Basically an AOL branded Firefox browser with a customizable switch on-off Internet Explorer feature set added. It gives users the ability to surf the web the way they like it with the best of both Mozilla and Microsoft without the drawbacks of either. I think that's a smart move and should bring people back to the Netscape browser brand.

[Popman]

I guess there are certain people who look at their computer as some highly complex machine that simply is to difficult to comprehend the inner working

Sort of like the learning to use a microwave

I used to sell kitchen remodel jobs and you would be surprised the number of older people who asked to have their space saver microwaves pulled out because they never learned to use them.

[NoClones]

netscape always was a piece of crap & still is a piece of crap

[goldstategop]

This browser is stand-alone and does not have to be used with the AOL client. In fact, it can be used with ANY ISP. It gives AOL another way to leverage the web and reach people who have no intention whatsoever of signing up with AOL itself.

[A Navy Vet]

I don't get this article. Netscape has been using Mozilla for some time now.

From the Netscape Help menu - About Netscape:
Netscape 7.2 Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (ax)

[goldstategop]

The early Netscape Communicator browsers were poorly designed but the 7x series are as good as Mozilla's own work. In fact, they ARE Mozilla suite browsers based on the Gecko open source engine. The only difference with Mozilla as far as users can tell, is the label and some AOL tweaks inside.

[Leonard210]

Kudos to Firefox...on the Mac. I realize that's heresy in Safari-land, but it blows Safari away! Explorer, which discontinued development for Mac still has that great archive feature which no one else can touch. I'll give Netscape a try because I'd like to see someone build on what Firefox has started.

[goldstategop]

Yes. Its based on the Mozilla browser. They're the same apart from very minor differences. In fact, Netscape will install a Mozilla folder in Windows! Go figure.

[Old Professer]

15 years ago, I bought a 600W .8 cu.ft. microwave intentionally because it has only a timer; no bells, whistles, flashing lights, programmable functions or even a clock.

It has performed flawlessly since.

[bannedfromdu]

Internet Explorer is a worthless browser and an inferior ripoff of netscape. It's a testimonial to Gates' ability to market any POS no matter how bad it sucks.

[SouthCarolinaKit]

Anyone with Firefox can add the extension which (right click)
reads any page in IE. Don't know what AOL is trying to sell here, but the funcion described comes with Firefox. I've been using it for a few months now and love it. I've only had to use the IE feature a few times when I couldn't access a
crossword puzzle.