They’ve now released the Netscape 8 Beta, which allows you to toggle between Mozilla’s browser and Microsoft’s (less-safe) browser, to the public.

How does it work? Since all code for the Mozilla project is free for anyone to take and use and modify, the entire Mozilla code is contained within the AOL/Netscape (bulk?) shell.

On the other hand, since Internet Explorer’s code is proprietary and supposedly secret to Microsoft, it uses the same hooks into the browser that AOL, Outlook Express, and many other programs have used since Microsoft decided to try and intergrate IE into the operating system. Because of this, it’s for Windows only, unlike Firefox which works on any operating system.

Is it the IE killer? Probably not. It’s unlikely that a program that includes IE will ever be an IE killer.

Will it be the Firefox killer? Certainly not. Firefox is still half the download size, faster, and less “feature bloated” - lacking all the AOL junk that Netscape includes.

So it’s not really the “obvious choice” as the Netscape site claims, but this type of hybrid browser does have its audience. For those that want to keep their IE-blankie close at hand, it’s the browser of choice. I’ll try it out whenever I’m on a Windows PC again, but for now, I continue my push for Firefox - a truly safer browser.

- tollie

802.11n isn’t out yet, and already 802.11s is on the way. 2008 is a long way in the future, but I’m betting that wireless will be commonplace by then. Has anybody tried out any of Belkin’s pre N wireless products? They claim an 800 foot signal radius - that’s remarkable!

/Chase

Geek.com Geek News - Intel unveils 802.11s

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