by Tollie

Quick History:

  • Netscape was a commercial product, and the definitive web browser.
  • Microsoft included Internet Explorer for free in Windows.
  • Browser wars ensued.
  • Internet Explorer got a lot better with IE 4 and Windows 95.
  • Netscape lost. AOL bought Netscape - but kept using IE for AOL.
  • Netscape released its original code for free to what is now the Mozilla Foundation.
  • Mozilla uses that code to create Mozilla Suite, and it’s successor - Firefox
  • AOL attempts to relaunch Netscape based on Mozilla Suite - not very successful.
  • Firefox continues development, with its code always free and ‘open source’ for others to use.
  • AOL releases Netscape 8, combining Firefox and Internet Explorer into one.

Netscape 8 offers a unique combination of Firefox and Internet Explorer in one product. It allows you to browse the internet with the security and safety of Firefox, yet be able to use Internet Explorer for those ill-behaved sites that only develop for Windows Internet Explorer.

How does it work? Netscape maintains a list of ’safe/trusted’ sites and ‘untrusted’ sites. For trusted sites, pages display using Internet Explorer. For unknown sites, pages display using Firefox. For untrusted sites, pages display using Firefox and with Javascript/Java/Cookies disabled. And of course, you can add to the trusted or untrusted sites lists.

You can also change which browser is used. For example, you can have all sites display in Firefox, including trusted ones - since most will look fine, and only switch over to Internet Explorer if things look strange.

Netscape 8 includes AOL’s instant Messenger and ICQ and two themes, but so far does not offer compatibility with any of the hundreds of Firefox extensions or themes - which is enough to keep me and most using Firefox instead.