Great browser for Macintosh
Written: Jan 24 '03 (Updated Jan 25 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fast rendering; very stable under Mac OS 9.1; tabbed browsing; no compatibility issues
Cons: Loads slowly
The Bottom Line: A very good browser for Macintosh, but is it good enough to convince users to replace Microsoft's Internet Explorer with it?
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| HawgWyld's Full Review: Netscape 7.0 |
I figured Netscape was pretty well dead after losing its marketshare to Internet Explorer, the browser slapped together by our old friend, Microsoft Corp. Sure, Netscape gave Microsoft a good run for a time, but the company just couldn't keep up with the best marketing machine on the planet. Furthermore, Netscape had a few problems in terms of bugs, compatibility issues and etc. So, I figured a combination of Microsoft's fantastic marketing and some mistakes on Netscape's part had just killed that company's chances in the browser market.
Fortunately, Netscape 7.0 is good enough to get some attention.
I put this on my computer at work, a little 400 MHz iMac with 128 megs of ram, a dandy T-1 connection and Mac OS 9.1. Since I'm a business writer for a daily newspaper, I spend a lot of time on the Internet researching stock prices, reading various news articles, playing around on Epinions and other important things. Given the amount of time I spend on the Internet at work, a crummy browser just won't do.
Now, my company has a strict policy -- we are to use Internet Explorer, or else. Internet Explorer worked just fine for me for the most part, but was very frustrating because of two bugs. On my Mac, I'd get the beloved pop-up informing me Macromedia applications (Flash and Shockwave) couldn't be started for want of memory and Java applications didn't run worth a damn most of the time. As both Macromedia plug-ins and Java are called by Web sites constantly, I had major problems with IE.
Of course, I figured 128 megs of ram wasn't enough, but another fellow with twice that amount of memory told me he got the same Macromedia error under OS 9.1. Furthermore, one of the photo guys at work (they get all the best equipment, it seems) runs Internet Explorer under Mac OS X and doesn't have a problem.
However, since I don't have OS X and probably won't be getting it any time soon, I was stuck with the Macromedia and Java problems. On a lark, I chose to violate the hell out of my company's policy and download a copy of Netscape 7.0.
I'm proud to report, my browser problems are solved, and that's the best thing I can say about Netscape 7. The memory allocation problems are gone and Java works well, too. The only difficulty I encountered was getting Netscape to point at Windows Media player and some other external applications that were set up under IE. That's not too big of an issue, though -- it's not much trouble to simply download the newest versions of applications and install them, right?
Well, perhaps that was a bit irritating, getting new applications and all, but the trouble was worth it in my case. Besides, since I'm sitting behind a T-1 line at work, downloads come in very quickly.
And speaking of downloading, Netscape is around 20 megs long, so keep that in mind if you connect to the Internet by dial-up.
As for the overall performance of the browser, I'm very surprised at Netscape's lightening-quick rendering of Web pages. IE seemed to get "stuck" at times, but I haven't had that problem with Netscape -- pages stream in very quickly, and a problem with a graphic or two won't hang up the entire browser. It's my understanding the agile performance of Netscape is due to the Gecko engine in the browser, which was, uh, "borrowed" from Mozilla.
One gripe I had with former Netscape browsers is the fact that compatibility was an issue. Some pages just didn't like Netscape, and that was a major problem. That problem seems to be eliminated with Netscape 7.0, but I realize some sites out there may still hate the browser. I haven't run across any, but I don't want to claim compatibility issues have been solved completely with this browser.
Netscape 7.0 might render pages quickly, but it does seem to load up slower than IE. That's not much a problem, but it can get irritating from time to time.
One of the great features about Netscape is tabbed browsing. Essentially, one can open up a browser window and then open smaller ones inside of it. Tabs along the bottom of the Netscape tool bar identify which page is which, so opening up several sites and switching between them is a snap. Very, very slick stuff.
Furthermore, the browser integrates the browser and e-mail/news-group clients together very well. Other features such as AOL Instant Messenger and a Web site-authoring program (Composer) are bundled in, too. However, I don't exactly get all chat-happy or build Web sites at work, so I'm not sure about how well AIM or Composer work.
Other nifty features are thrown in, too, such as a manger which allows you to build up a "favorites" link that is very easy to use. And, there are several new "skins" available to use if you hate the look of the toolbars provided with Netscape. A lot of skins I found wouldn't work under the "newer" version of Netscape, but I found a couple that are just dandy.
All in all, however, the ultimate question is this -- does Netscape 7.0 work well enough for folks to go through all the trouble of downloading it, installing it and configuring it? In my case, the answer is "yes." However, I haven't put it on my damn Windows box at home because IE works well enough for my purposes and I'm too lazy to replace it. I also understand that IE is fine under Mac OS X.
Still, give Netscape a look if you're not happy with the performance of IE and want to try something new. Give it a shot if you just hate Microsoft and would rather use an alternative to IE. From my experience, the old argument that "Netscape isn't as good as Internet Explorer" is no longer valid.
For a bunch of ranting, see my review of Microsoft Internet Explorer for Mac
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
HawgWyld
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Member: Ethan C. Nobles
Location: Benton, Ark.
Reviews written: 1428
Trusted by: 494 members
About Me:
The oxen are slow, but the earth is patient.
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