RSSNetscape to Ship on New HP Computers
By Nate Mook | Published October 3, 2005, 3:43 PM
AOL subsidiary Netscape has signed the first non-IE browser distribution deal with a major PC manufacturer since the late 90s. Starting early next year, Hewlett-Packard will ship Netscape 8 on all new PCs and laptops, with customized tabs leading to HP and Compaq Web destinations.
However, Internet Explorer will remain an option for HP customers. During initial setup, an option will be presented to select Netscape as the system's default browser. Icons to launch Netscape will be placed on the Windows desktop and Start Menu.
"Netscape 8.0 was designed to give consumers a choice, and we are delighted that consumers who buy new HP and Compaq consumer PCs will be able to choose the Netscape browser for a safer and highly compatible browsing experience," said Jeremy Liew, General Manager of Netscape.
HP emphasized Netscape's security as a factor behind the deal. Netscape includes advanced privacy settings and anti-phishing features alongside tabbed browsing and an integrated RSS reader.
The agreement could also be seen as a big win for Mozilla and its open source Firefox Web browser on which Netscape 8 is based. Firefox has enjoyed immense popularity since its 1.0 debut last year, but adoption by mainstream consumers has slowed. Such a bundling deal could help the upstart browser regain its foothold against IE.
I don't see why they never put Firefox... its more stable, better to work with, and got a cute firefox. =P
I see HP is really taking on the traits of Compaq, Dell and IBM. In my opinion they should join together and call themselves: IBMDCHP or CRAP for short.
Score: 0
|Eeeew!!!! Of all things... NETSCAPE???
Why not Maxthon or FireFox?
Score: 0
|Nooooo HP, don't pull a Dell.
Score: 0
|I'd say it's refreshing just to see a manufacturer offering an out-of-the-box system with a choice for consumers, whatever choice that may be. I would have also preferred to see Firefox, but it's certainly a step in the right direction to give users a choice.
Score: 0
|Makes perfect sense: Netscape is much improved, is probably most compatible w/ the most sites after IE & is not attracting malware exploits like FF. And it's simple to use out of the box-- the only thing missing(for the masses) is a silent or autoinstaller package of most plugins.
You can't go foisting FF on the masses-- expect them to install a kazillion extensions, and worse, debug their conflicts & the inherent browser beta bugs? Come on!
Opera is good, but there's still plenty of content / sites it can't handle.
The only other alternative would be Maxthon(again, for the non-techie masses)...
Score: 0
|I am just shocked a PC is being shipped with any browser other than IE. Good move HP. Now I agree that Firefox would have been a far better choice than Netscape.
Score: 0
|NCSA Mosaic forever! (Or lynx)
Buggy
Score: 0
|http://secunia.com/advisories/16766/
Score: 0
|People give Netscape a lot of crap due to a funky interface in the original 8.0 and the AOL connection. However, the newest release comes with a much more orthodox UI and sports impressive performance and features. It's actually a great browser for a wide range of users.
Score: 0
|Hey, it's still better than IE...
Score: 0
|LMAO!! NetscAPE!!
Score: 0
|Good move, but I will uninstall it on all of my customer's computers and reset the default back to IE.
Score: 0
|I feel sorry for your customers.
I'd remove Netscape too, but then I'd install Firefox and/or Opera, and delete all access to IE, which is a hideous piece of crap, especially for people who don't know what they're doing, such as yourself.
IF they even noticed it was gone, and actually cared, I'd restore it for them, with a short lecture on what not to do with IE - ie. surf the internet.
Score: 0
|Why?
Score: 0
|I want to see a computer manufacturer give their products nothing but Windows XP. I hate excess software and bundles of any kind.
Score: 0
|HP *KIND OF* does that, however to enjoy it you have to blow away the load that it ships with.
Score: 0
|Well, I guess it's better than IE, at least.
Score: 0
|NETSCAPE???? What about Firefox????
Score: 0
|I agree that firefox is a better browser but Netscape has AOL backing it up.
Score: 0
|It's not about the browser and how good it is, it is about the money Netscape/AOL is paying them to put their browser in there.
I mean if it was to ship with the BEST browser, it would ship with Opera. :p
Score: 0
|BECAUSE NETSCAPE IS AN ACCEPTED AND TRUSTED PRODUCT AND FIREFLOP IS A FRIGGIN BETA FOREVER.
Score: 0
|AGREED...OPERA RULES
Score: 0
|Umm.... you ARE aware that Netscape 8 was built from Firefox, right?
Score: 0
|I agree that Opera is a good browser, but I wouldn't go as far as to say it's the best, IMHO.
Score: 0
|Erm you do know that AOL is a major funder of Firefox?
Score: 0
|AOL won't give money to HP to put Firefox on their computers though.
Score: 0
|Doesn't AOL have people dedicated to writing Firefox code?
I think they do.
Score: 0
|MAXTHON!
Score: 0
|Hmm... let me see. [Clicks Help -> About Mozilla Firefox] Version 1.07.
Nope no beta software here. And the reason why Firefox exists is because of Netscape and the reason why Netscape exists is because of Firefox. Get it? No? http://www.wikipedia.org/ is your friend. Search for Netscape and get an history lesson.
Score: 0
|Good move.
Score: 0
|Some people rant about "choice" as if selling the computers with the base install of XP (meaning IE on the desktop) is some kind of method to literally prevent you from getting and using ANY other browser.
it's called getfirefox.com....click, download, netscape.com...click, download... but that's WAY too much work, so much hard work in fact that people call >not< bundling some branded version of some other browser anti-competative...how so?
IE goes to getfirefox.com just fine and downloads the browser just fine, and goes away just as easily.
I'm someone who thinks the average user shouldn't use IE because it's ridiculously open to spyware, but me myself I've used IE purely up till 3 months ago, and since then only on and off with FireFox, and I've had zero problems with either browser in regard to activeX issues, spyware, malware, etc.
It really is NOT that difficult for HP or any other company to run the install for FireFox, Opera, AND Netscape on their new systems which they most likely just load once and use HD images for anyway. That way you give everyone their little "pseudo-choice" since they're incapable of thinking past their icons on their desktop. Seriously this kind of user that believes he/she doesnt have a choice of browser is the kind of user that thinks their computer is "broke" when they lose some icons on their desktop....
It's not such a big deal lol, I wouldn't recommend anything but firefox to computer illiterate users, but even then some of my customers EVEN with firefox still get spyware on their systems, I have no clue how they accomplish it... but oh well.. use Linux ;-p
I use windows software on my linux box routinely, easily, and i can browse to ANY website w/o issue.
Score: 0
|There is a vast majority of computer users that believe that if the icons on there screen disapear then it is broken but shipping an alternative browser gets them used to something different which means they are more likely to shy away from IE which means less MS which = :)
Score: 0
|this is true ^_^
I'm often frustrated with how I try to convert people to Firefox for their own good, BUT they still tend to find IE somewhere on the system and use it regularly because they don't like change....even though I go out of my way to hide it.
This is the most exagerated industry where people that know nothing about the technical aspect of it have such a big influence on how it works, whether they be the actual buyers or not. We kiss up to their wants, fix their problems, yet share their uninformed opinions sometimes too much though.
Car-makers never stopped people that know Nothing about cars from using 4-wheel-drive regardless of how obscure the method of activating it, yet when it comes to workarounds on internet browsers, people whine to the point of industry changes. >> ^_- i love it
my example stems from female friends of mine that say "I have a 4WD jeep but I dunno how to use that feature" whereas I'm looking at them like they're blind....whereas it's the exact same issue with net browsers and I still look at them like they're blind... just a few clicks away is all your dreams of every browser you could ever ask for.
Score: 0
|