Updated 28/12/00: Netscape 6.00 crashes on average after every 1.5 hours of use!... After reading the reviews on NS 6 I'm thinking; why not test it while lurking around Epinions as a newbie?

About me: I'm just a guy who couldn't afford Windows when I bought my new computer so I was forced to try something similar for free. I admit that the learning curve from Windows 3.11 to Linux was steeper than switching to Win95 but the result paid off. I've twelve stepped away from my MS addiction. Well, maybe not twelve but a least a safe distance. After all, I still take hits of Windows now and then since everybody I know is a user, but I would not complain if my supply was cut off.I have no formal training in computers. I keep learning by messing around until nothing works then re-installing. After getting back on-line I try one of the numerous help sites to see what I did wrong. If you use this approach remember to back up your files frequently.

Installing Netscape 6 -They make you do it the hard way

I installed NS 6 a couple of weeks ago on my friend's recommendation First, I went to the Netscape site and read some documentation. They say I can't install on top of previous versions of Netscape and must create a separate directory. They don't mention where to install the directory. Oh well, creating /usr/local/Netscape 6/ seems like a good guess.

I return to their web site and for fun click on the "smart update" button because from previous attempts I know it doesn't work with the Linux 4.73 I'm using. Surprise, I'm taken to a new page that orders me to click here to complete the download. The download is not actually Netscape 6 but an install wizard. All I have to do is download the file to the Netscape 6 directory I created and when I run the program the wizard will do the rest. Great I thought; "now I have magic powers like my Windows buddies do".

After downloading the wizard in about a second I close my browser and open the NetScape 6 directory with the KDE graphical file manager. I click on the install wizard icon and wait. The wizard starts up, connects to Netscape, I select the basic install and the files start downloading. Then it freezes during the third of nine files. X-kill and start over, freeze, X-kill, open konsole, ./netscape-installer, download begins, freezes on 5th file, X-kill, start over. I repeat the sequence several times for the next twenty-four hours.
I return to the PDF file I downloaded of installation documentation and discover that I can fetch the whole program in a tar.gz file format. Sweet, at least I can shelve the wizard and install the old fashioned way. An rpm file would have been better though. After scouring Netscape's web site I find and download the file. I decide to give the wizard one more try before I risk a re-install. I'll be damned! The wizard actually works and successfully completes the installation.

The Test.
I am using Netscape 6 but since it freezes sometimes I'm relying on 4.73. About a day after joining Epinions I read some reviews about Netscape 6 consistent with my experience. I decide to use Netscape 6 exclusively while I lurk around Epinions to familiarize my self with the site. I figure Epinions is a good place to test a browser's capability because of the amount of Ads , Java and links. In the beginning a person is also jumping around the site a lot setting up their profile, reading and rating reviews, commenting, and posting a couple opinions of their own. I spent about 63 hours using NS6 over the next week familiarizing myself with the Epinions web-site.

The Results-Disappointing

The first problem I noticed is the way the search bar on the top of the page is displayed. The window where you enter your key word appears about 1 mm tall. Not really a problem since the function works but it doesn't look pretty. The same with the button indicating if you want your name displayed with your rating. All I see is a black dot.

The browser crashed frequently and randomly. Most often, but not always when clicking the link to view all the opinions on a product. My processor kicks into overdrive and everything freezes. Fortunately, unlike when 4.73 crashes my mouse still works. I just use the X-kill icon and return to my desktop. For some reason I still have to open my process management application and kill the shell script to get the program to quit.
I even have proof for the skeptics. Once in awhile after a crash a feedback wizard pops up saying the browser has crashed. They ask you click on a button which automatically submits the details of the event back to Netscape so they can work harder to improve the product. Hmmmn, I 've heard this before. Release a bug filled product and let millions of unsuspecting users find the problems. Oh well, the product is free so why not help your community?

The next time the wizard popped up I noticed a button that said details. OK , maybe I better check to see what details I'm sending back. The answer is more than I understand as well as stuff I would rather not share like my private email address from my ISP. Not that I really care because Shaw Cable does not support Linux in my area so I never use their services. You are allowed to uncheck groups of data you would prefer not to send back but how do you choose what you don't understand?

The Meat-Geek Stuff:

The feed back agent collects many details about your system and the applications running when Netscape crashes. I've only included the summary statistics.

Statistics
Application Crash Counter: 16 (0x00000010)
Application Launch Counter: 84 (0x00000054)
Application Quit Counter: 46 (0x0000002E)
Application Running: 0 (0x00000000)
Application Unknown Quit Counter: 22 (0x00000016)
Count of Information Collections: 16 (0x00000010)
Seconds Since Last Crash: 25572 (0x000063E4)
Total Runtime Seconds: 227594 (0x0003790A)
Use Seconds Since Last Crash: 1 (0x00000001)
System Information:*****
CPU Information: ? model 6 vendor GenuineIntel stepping 5 bogomips 734.00
Page Size: 4096 (0x00001000)
Platform Type: 1610612736 (0x60000000)
Processor Speed: 134622292 (0x08062C54)
System Information: Linux, 2.2.15-4mdksecure, #1 SMP Wed May 10 14:16:48 CEST 2000, i686
System uptime: 5:07pm up 3 min, 1 user, load average: 1.06, 0.37, 0.13
Total System Memory: 66613248 (0x03F87000)

By converting the statistics from seconds to minutes we know that I used Netscape6.00 for 63.222 hours, mostly at the Epinion site. The application crashed 16 times out of 84 launches or 19.047% of the time. Plus the application quit 22 times for "unknown reasons". I suspect these were the times the application froze and I had to use X-kill to quit. Added together this means you have a probability of O.452 that Netscape6.00 will lock up after launching. Even though 7.103 hours passed between the 15th and 16th crash, on average you can expect one crash or freeze for about every 1.5 hours of use.

Recommendation- Not

This software is still Beta. I think it has potential but right now I think it would frustrate the average user. If your using Internet Explorer don't bother, why try to fix something that's not broken? I will continue to use Netscape 6 and send back bug reports until some of the open source alternatives are better developed. I suspect I will achieve better performance if I upgrade to from 64MB RAM to 128MB RAM. For now, buyer beware.



Recommended: No