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Netscape 8.0 Final Released

By David Worthington, BetaNews

May 19, 2005, 12:00 AM

Netscape has released the final version of its Netscape 8 Web browser. The browser toggles between the Internet Explorer and Firefox rendering engines as needed to satisfy compatibility and safety requirements.

The revived browser is based upon Firefox 1.0.3, bundling Firefox's advanced features with a Netscape interface and many other custom enhancements such as integrated RSS feeds and Netscape portal content, as well as enhanced privacy features and a selection of optional toolbars to install.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer engine is included under the hood to provide better compatibility with Web sites that conform to IE.

Netscape 8 went beta in March, debuting several anti-phishing tools including a "Trust Rating" system that warns users of potentially dangerous sites. The Trust Rating system is made possible by Netscape blacklisting Web sites, using the presence of phishing tactics, spyware and viruses as criteria.

Security and compatibility settings will be automatically adjusted for every Web site a user visits.

"Netscape 8.0 is designed for the millions of online users who are searching for a safer and better browser. Netscape 8.0 combines the best of all worlds by automatically adjusting browser and security settings based on which sites are likely to be safe and which might be dangerous," said Netscape General Manager Jeremy Liew.

"By warning users before they visit many potentially dangerous sites, Netscape 8.0 adds an extra layer of protection to a user's computer. Netscape 8.0 also brings cutting-edge functionality right to the surface to make exploring the Web safer, easier, faster, and more entertaining."

Netscape 8 may be downloaded via FileForum.

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By spinsir

posted Jan 28, 2008 - 1:49 PM

thanxxxxxxxxxxx

Score: 0

By davidtb

edited May 22, 2005 - 10:17 AM

http://news.softpedia.co...aunch-of-8-0-2133.shtml
Netscape was my second browser, (after QuarterDeck) and I even got used to the left-handed way it did everything, It's still left-handed.
I think it's biggest knock is AOL's behind it, and while that's all well and good for newbies, to me, the crap that AOL exposes you to (supposedly free programs from a companies that installs spyware and such)is just too much to deal with. Clean up a hard drive that's had AOL and a couple of kids on it, and you'll see if you can avoid a reformat.
I mean if it's worthy of release AOL would have used it as an AOL browser

Score: 0

By TomasF

posted May 21, 2005 - 1:26 AM

I love it, there really is a limit to the number of vulnerabilities one team can manage to leave in their code, it seems. So it's good someone shows responsibility and makes a browser that takes the vulnerabilities of both worlds. Now all we need the Presto engine too, and we'll *really* be talking!

Score: 0

By crashoverride

posted May 20, 2005 - 1:38 AM

This is great, fast no crashes. Plus i don't know what the dif is but firefox is always telling me it can't find weppages. this thing doesn't do that. I also like the fact that I no longer have to run 2 dif browser windows to be able to use IE and FF. I also don't know what you guys are talking about with all these instabilities. I haven't had any of that.

Score: 0

By jessica45

edited May 19, 2005 - 6:03 AM

If it has been released, then where can i download it?

Score: 0

By spiffyjeff

posted May 19, 2005 - 2:44 PM

see the last paragraph, last sentace of this article.

Score: 0

By Pegusis2

posted May 19, 2005 - 1:40 PM

I love the new look and the fact that it opens IE pages like they were meant to be viewed when they were created... but like one user posted it still seems a bit buggy. While clicking on a some links it almost appears that it Freezes, but than it works... so who knows maybe this is what it is supposed to do?.? Well Maybe I don't know. Still it is nice to see Netscape is still kicking, I'd use it over FireFox for the simple fact that you can choose which engine it is using.

I'd give it two thumbs up once the little bugs are worked out, but don't get me wrong I'll still be using IE... but a man has to use all browsers if he wants to create web pages for a living.

I can't wait to see the new skins that will be available, that will make it a little bit more fun to use. :o)

Score: 0

By gawd21

posted May 19, 2005 - 11:42 AM

This is not a final it is still beta. Locks up way to much and just isn't worth it to me. I knew it would be to good to be true.

Score: 0

By dreamchaser

posted May 19, 2005 - 10:16 AM

I found a link and it has complete details and screenshots, you can check www.go4i.net for the download link plus some detailsover the browser and screenshots !

Have Phun !

Score: 0

By Daelin82

posted May 19, 2005 - 8:43 AM

I liked what they did with the interface and how customizable it is as well as where they put the menu bar. My only problem is as soon as I changed it from defaults (by removing the news bar from the multibar) it decided to destroy itself by making a mysterious LARGE amount of empty space above the nav bar I can't remove. It also randomly decided to change to small icons when I loaded it. I'll go back to Firefox for now thank you very much.

Score: 0

By jafanz

posted May 19, 2005 - 4:12 AM

I'm a pretty open minded person for software and in no WAY close minded. Every software that is made has it's pros and cons nothing works 100% of the time maybe close but never 100% we are always looking for new things. Netscape to me seems not to shabby oh sure it could do with a bit less here and there and maybe a bit more here and there of other things but the one thing that stands out is you can use it as IE and to me that's got to be a bonus! I hate useing 2 browsers period.

Score: 0

By ThaiZo

edited May 19, 2005 - 11:05 AM

I really liked everything about NS 8.0 BUT it keeps crashing on me when I surf the web and NS starts using th IE engine :( hope they fix it soooon....

Score: 0

By

posted May 19, 2005 - 3:53 AM

Anybody got a download link? netscape.com just states version 8 as coming soon!

Score: 0

By J. McLearran

posted May 19, 2005 - 8:29 AM

here's the download

http://browser.netscape.com/ns8/

Score: 0

By zridling

posted May 19, 2005 - 3:41 AM

My computer started acting funky after installing this turkey. It was crap back then, and it's still grade A crap today.

Score: 0

By cupsdell

posted May 19, 2005 - 12:42 PM

On my PC NN8 final crashes every time I start it, with a message suggesting I update to the latest version.

Looks like major QC problems: send it back to beta..

Score: 0

By gemal

posted May 19, 2005 - 2:00 AM

The best browser is called Firefox NOT FireFox!!!

Score: 0

By naylor83

posted May 19, 2005 - 5:13 AM

Heh. Don't be so harsh on the poor journalist. He probably didn't make it through fifth grade.

Score: 0

By Paradise-FH-

posted May 19, 2005 - 8:58 AM

you two are part of the reason i hate to call myself a firefox user.

Score: 0

By PhoenixPath

posted May 19, 2005 - 10:18 AM

NAh, take pride in the fact that it's easy enough for 5-year-olds to use.

Score: 0

By gawd21

edited May 19, 2005 - 11:20 AM

I haven't used Netscape in about ten (10) years. Last time was on Win 95 then I went to IE4 and never looked back. (May have been only 8 years not sure.) I am going to give this one a good try. I really like FF and almost always use it, yet sometimes I need IE, ergo this should be the best of the two worlds. I normally don't like cake, but I will eat it this time. :-)

Score: 0

By eunichman

posted May 19, 2005 - 2:18 AM

funny you should mention the timeframe of you switching to IE as when you switched to win98. the reason I bring this up is that, even though win95 came with IE netscape still had a large stronghold on the browser industry simply because IE wasnt compatible with industry standard websites... Netscape was.
along came win98 and IE was much updated as well as the several previous years had seen ms slowly chipping away at industry standard. IE also came as an uninstallable part of win98 (sure, if you looked hard enough and jumped through a bunch of ringhs you could but that left you basically with win95 :) ) - with IE being bundles and integrated into win98 one could be browsing their hard drive and simply type in a url where the direstory tree window was and you got taken to a website. How much easier is this than opening up a new app, waiting for it to start, then type in the url? a LOT. simpler is not always better though. win95b remained the most stable release of windows up until winxp came along. we are talking about through win98, win98se, winme, then winxp. thats a lot of years.
anyhow... the reason I am giving you thios history lesson is to illustrate that when ms integrated the browser into the os, netscape share went down and down. most people didnt even know there was a netscape because back in THOSE days, you had 2 types of computer users. 98% of the market were clooless noobs and the other 2% were power users. with 98% of the people seeing they are able to browse they browse. they dont like to rock the boat.... they are struggling just to grasp this new computer they just bought.

Score: 0

By Scipio

posted May 19, 2005 - 11:27 AM

I was an early Netscape user from the time of the first betas when it was called Mosaic, but I never tried to uninstall IE. Instead I always had both browsers on my computer. Both were buggy and caused occasional freezes.

Around the time of Win98, however, IE started to get much better, whereas Netscape ceased to progress. IE was faster and had fewer bugs. For a year I continued to keep Netscape on my computer in hopes it would be fixed, but it just continued to deteriorate. I finally removed it.

So it wasn't the fact that IE was bundled that influenced me, but the fact that it became much better, while Netscape did not. When AOL took over Netscape, that was the final kiss of death. They have some of the worst software writers in the universe. Their only concern was how to pile on more ads, not how to deal with memory leaks or bloatware problems. Firefox is another issue, but I still find IE the best product with the fewest problems.

Score: 0

By eunichman

posted May 20, 2005 - 3:40 AM

Please get your facts straight?

http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/history/ie.htm

The history ie Internet explorer shows that IE was based on Mosaic:) - a collaborative project between Silicon Graphics founder Jim Clark and Marc Andreessen. They formed Mosaic Communications which later became known as netscape communications

I Quote:
"The original IE 1.0 browser code was licensed from Spyglass (a commercial arm for the NCSA Mosaic browser work), but the Microsoft team quickly made a big mark on the original codebase. The first two product cycles occurred within a very short span of time, and allowed the browser to gain a little bit of ground against its main rival - Netscape."

Score: 0

By roj

posted May 19, 2005 - 11:49 AM

I pretty much mirror your experiences and attitudes. I'd like to add the following in the interests of correcting historical inaccuracies:

MS went ot Netscape at one point and offered them the chance to integrate their product with the OS. The kids at Netscape, not recognizing the opportunity, refused.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Score: 0

By eunichman

posted May 20, 2005 - 3:43 AM

I applaud "the kids" for saying no. history shows what happens to companies and products MS acquires. and dont let that simple statement he made fool you. therte is no way ms would make such an offer (if they even did (show us your proof)) unless they maintained control over netscape.

since they didnt "integrate" netscape, they did the next best thing.. they did what they do best, they got the source code, bloated it beyond belief and made it their own, calling the b*stardized code that used to be a good quality browser, Internet explorer

Score: 0

By iceanfire

posted May 22, 2005 - 1:19 AM

I think selling out to AOL is much worse.

Score: 0

By NULLedge

posted May 19, 2005 - 1:34 AM

two words...

ewwwww cpanel

Score: 0

By gawd21

posted May 19, 2005 - 1:40 AM

Everything unlimited for $4.99, that is why.

Score: 0

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