The next shot in the revived browser wars has been fired with the release of the beta version of the Netscape 8 browser.
The much-delayed beta (test) version is the latest development in the effort by Netscape, a division of media giant Time Warner's America On-line subsidiary, to win back users who 10 years ago had given Netscape a market share of 80 per cent. Microsoft has lured much of that audience away over the past decade with Internet Explorer, eventually commanding a market share of about 94 per cent.
But IE's share has recently been whittled away to below 90 per cent by the remarkable success of the free open-source browser Firefox. That success has prompted Microsoft to scramble in its plans to upgrade and release a new version of IE, originally scheduled to go public with the next version of Windows, perhaps in 2006.
Netscape is hoping to capitalize on the growing popularity Firefox, basing version 8.0 of its browser on the Firefox core.
Most noteworthy among Netscape's new features is its anti-fraud technology, especially growing threats such as phishing. The browser uses frequently updated blacklists of websites that are suspected of distributing spyware or hosting phishing schemes. The lists will be supplied by outside security researchers.
Netscape's makers say the browser will redirect customers to a warning page when they reach a site on the banned list. As a backup measure, it also disables various technologies with questionable security implications, including ActiveX, scripting and cookies, if a user continues to a blacklisted website.
Netscape rates every website for trustworthiness, helping to block phishing schemes from fake corporate sites and reduce spyware infections. If a site is ranked as completely trustworthy, Netscape automatically renders the content in "IE mode" for maximum compatibility, since many websites optimize their code specifically to display well on the Internet Explorer browser.
Other features include tabbed browsing, and IE-style page rendering, which its promoters say combines the speed of Firefox with the complete compatibility with sites designed to work only for IE.
A customized Canadian version of Netscape is also in the works, with live content being developed by Canadian partners, the company said.
The product will remain in test mode for several more weeks. No date has been set for the browser's official launch.
