Netscape sets a course for Navigator

 

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By Simon Aughton

Posted on 8 May 2007 at 11:55

Netscape has announced that the next version of its eponymous Web browser will be known as Netscape Navigator 9, reviving a name that has not been used since the last century.

Early releases of the browser, versions 1 to 3, carried the Navigator moniker, but version 4 was renamed Netscape Communicator to reflect the fact that the Web browser was just one component of the software that also provided email and instant messaging.

By the time version 6 was released in 2000 - there was no version 5 - the name had been simplified to Netscape as responsibility for the development of the software was handed first to Mozilla and then to Mercurial Communications by its owner, AOL.

The decision to revive the Navigator name harks back to the days before Internet Explorer when it was the overwhelmingly most popular Web browser. At its peak in 1996 it accounted for an estimated 90 per cent of browser usage. By then end of 2002 its share had fallen to less than four per cent.

The Netscape blog's reason for the decision is somewhat less nostalgic, explaining that the new name will 'avoid confusion between the different Netscape products' such as its Web portal which has now evolved into a Digg-style social news site.

AOL has brought development of Navigator 9 back in-house and expects to release it later this year. Unlike the Windows only version 8 it will be also be available for Mac OS X and Linux and based exclusively on the same Gecko rendering engine that underpins Firefox.

It will also support Firefox extensions and will include support for news feeds and greater integration with the Netscape portal, with tools for discussion, submission and voting on Web pages.

A new Netstripe theme has been designed, with a preview available as a skin for Firefox.