Much like the Star Wars movies, the browser wars have returned for a whole new era of battle, as illustrated today by the release of Netscape Communications Corp.'s Netscape 7.0 preview browser.
Netscape's new browser appears armed for market-share warfare, boasting features that have proved popular with users of open-source browsers, such as tabbed browsing and must-have commercial offerings like radio.
The Preview Release of Netscape 7.0 comes on the heels of news that the Mozilla open-source browser is in beta testing and soon due for final release (see story) and as Netscape's rival, Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer, is busy eating up market share.
Netscape, a subsidiary of New York-based Internet and media powerhouse AOL Time Warner Inc., has long been pitted against Microsoft in the browser race. What's more, Microsoft's latest release of Internet Explorer, Version 6, has gained more than 30% of the market since it was released in the second half of last year, compared with Netscape's 7% of the market, according to a March 2002 study by San Diego-based Internet researcher WebSideStory Inc. (see story)
Netscape may be hoping to turn the tide with its latest offering, which boasts new features such as Click-to-Search, which allows users to highlight a word or phrase with their mouse and click Web Search to receive a separate browser window of search results.
But the new feature that perhaps stands out the most is tabbed browsing, which allows users to keep track of a number of sites or pages as tabbed pages in a single browser window that users can click between. Tabbed browsing has proved to be a popular feature with Mozilla beta users, which may be how Netscape came about implementing it in Version 7.0. The Mozilla open-source browser project was initiated by Netscape, and the company uses the same browser engine as Mozilla, called Gecko. Additionally, the company views and uses a large amount of code coming out of the open-source project.
Until last June, AOL Time Warner's Internet unit, AOL, used Internet Explorer as its default browser. But the company has recently said it is testing a Gecko-powered browser for the service. It remains unclear whether positive feedback regarding the new Netscape browser would sway AOL to make the switch.
The preview 7.0 browser also boasts new media offerings such as Radio@Netscape, an integrated radio product that features more than 175 stations that play a variety of musical genres.
Netscape is touting the new Gecko-driven browser as fast and optimized for activities such as file downloading, searching, shopping and listening to music. Additionally, new customization features have been included for both Netscape mail and AOL's integrated instant messenger program.
The launch of the preview 7.0 is coupled with a redesign of the company's Web site, which has added content from AOL Time Warner's expansive media holdings and a newfangled tool bar.
Details and Download
http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/7/
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