AOL: New Mozilla-based Netscape 7.x coming shocker
It's rarely that a company statement raises eyebrows. But this one will do: America Online confirmed to the INQUIRER that it is working on an updated release of the Netscape browser to replace the aging version 7.1 -which was released in mid-2003. They also promise that this Netscape update will use the latest Mozilla engine as its core. Not too long ago, I wrote an article titled "AOL may release a Netscape branded IE-launcher", where I screamed against the possibility of the company's marketing robots turning the Netscape browser product into an empty shell that would in turn launch Internet Explorer under the hood.
Read more on the stupid move of the year
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3 Comments
I think it good move. AOL still doing some marketing for Netscape 7.1 on Netscape portal, so update is only right.
Comment by Adam Hauner at March 31, 2004 08:26 AM | PermalinkI still think that AOL should drop Netscape all together and focus on one MS IE killer product, which would be Mozilla. Make Mozilla Firefox there main MS killer and have 100% focus on that.
Having a part time updated browser like Netscape will only make users more confused and splitted.
Why is this 'the stupid move of the year'? Netscape is the most used Mozilla distribution. Surely keeping it updated is a good thing. Or would you rather than the Netscape users saw their browser wasn't being updated and drifted towards the Internet Explorer already installed on their PC, which - due to Windows Update - is always up-to-date. Or maybe you'd prefer it if Netscape became an IE shell, which appears to be the alternative.
This is great news for Mozilla!
Comment by abc at March 30, 2004 11:57 PM | Permalink