Netscape 8.0 released (nearly)

By Steve Malone

Posted on 19 May 2005 at 09:41

Netscape is about to release 8.0 of its browser software. The new version looks to build on the best of both Internet Explorer and the upstart Firefox.

Although billed as 'released' in certain quarters, at the time of writing the new version had yet to appear on the Netscape site.

Following the collapse of Netscape as a competitor to Microsoft in the so-called 'browser wars' of the 1990s, the browser was acquired by AOL. The acquisition then led to a legal battle over Microsoft's alleged anti-competitive behaviour during its battle with Netscape.

The issue was finally settled in 2003. As part of the deal, AOL obtained the right to use Internet Explorer and Media Player code on a royalty free basis over a seven-year period. AOL has taken advantage of the deal and Microsoft's code is to appear in the new version of Netscape.

By putting the IE engine inside Netscape, the developers hope to avoid many of the niggling rendering problems that dog Firefox users who visit sites - like Microsoft's - that have been designed specifically for Internet Explorer.
At the same time, Netscape 8.0 has also been able to call upon the Firefox code base - AOL has been a big contributor to the Mozilla Foundation - to include some of the advanced features that appear in Firefox 1.0.3. These features are said to include integrated RSS feeds and better security.

Netscape also aims to include some advanced security features of its own. In particular, it dynamically adjusts its `Trust Rating` for each site visited on the basis of blacklists of malicious web pages drawn up by Truste, VeriSign, Paretologic and AOL itself. The blacklist targets sites known to be the source of either spyware or phishing exploits.