May 21, 2005

via Elliotte Rusty Harold | Um, I think you missed a spot...

Cafe con Leche XML News and Resources

Netscape has released version 8.0.1 of its namesake web browser for Windows. This release is based on Firefox 1.0.4 instead of 1.0.3, Apparently someone at AOL finally got enough a clue pounded into their head to realize that shipping a browser with a known security hole just to meet a deadline and a code freeze wasn't so smart. Any users should upgrade, but most people should probably just use Firefox and forget about Netscape.

Hmmmm.... I'm guessing that maybe Elliotte chose to stick with his Firefox 1.0.4 install and as such missed this little dialog during the setup process:

In case the text is inelligible let me put this into plain text:

For trusted sites, the Netscape Browser sometimes switches to the Internet Explorer rendering engine to ensure maximum functionality for that site. You can disable this behavior by checking the box below and the browser will always use only the Firefox rendering engine.

So what you're saying is I now can view content in the same tabbed-based user-interface I've come to love in Firefox and yet when a site has been designed for IE or implements ActiveX Controls that I can't use in Firefox I can just switch to IE inside of the same UI???

_{[NOTE: Mark my words... Shift + Ctrl + E is the "three finger salute" of the next generation. Oooooh! Thats just BEAUTIFUL!!! :D (you'll see what I mean when you install it... oh so long overdue... THANKYOU NETSCAPE, Mercurial, and Kurt(actually, I don't even know what part Kurt played with this release as he is brand spanking new to this fantastic specimen of a ThinkTank/DevShop filled with more talent (from what I understand) than Yankee Stadium has seen throughout its entire history... if you can compare hackers to baseball players that is) and I have no doubt he knows the right people to give the praise and thanks too... I'd hang out over at his blog as no doubt he will have things to say about this in the not too distant future)]}

Apparently thats exactly what they're saying. Sorry, but this is much more significant than "Any users should upgrade, but most people should probably just use Firefox and forget about Netscape."

This is something *EXTREMELY* significant and my hat goes off to my good friend Kurt Cagle and his new company Mercurial for putting together something that at *VERY LEAST* deserves a "tool for every webdev's toolbox" recommendation. But this is much more than that as this brings a level of integration to the web browsing world that is flat out astounding when you consider just how much content has been developed for IE that can not be rendered in Firefox and yet how reliant many of us have become on Firefox for a good majority of our web-browsing. I'm sorry, but this deserves a hell of a lot more recognition than "forget about Netscape."! In fact I would go as far as stating the exact opposite with "Welcome back Netscape! Browser war? What browser war? Oh, yeah, that... you'd be surprised what an ink pen and a talented team of lawyers can accomplish when everyones looking the other direction..."

"Make Netscape, Not War!"? No, definitely not... But "Download Netscape, What War?" might work... Either way, it seems the web is still a frontier with many, Many, MANY uncharted miles of wide open spaces still left to explore... now navigable and explorable via a handy two browser convenience pack.

Ohhhhh.... theres the sticking point...

System Requirements

Operating Systems Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98 SE, ME

Guess thats probably why the install never occured (I'm assuming that Elliotte is probably either a Mac or Linux guy?) Ok, nevermind... I can see now why this little tidbit was probably missed or skipped over as it doesn't do a whole lot of good for someone who can't install it to spend time learning about all its features...

But for those like myself who spend their time 50/50 between Linux and Windows or for the remaining 85% of the world who believes that Linux is for Hackers (and consider "Hacker" and "Criminal" as one in the same), Mac for those who believe that upgrading a computer involves clearing the spot where the "old" Mac was and unpacking the box with its replacement model (which is 1/3 the size, weight, and opacity of its predecessor) and Windows to be useful because they know how to use it and thats all that matters... This is something pretty significant.

Welcome back Netscape! Let's see what happens next...