Windows Tip Sheet
Return of the Living Dead
Netscape rises from its grave to deliver a standout browser that combines the best of Firefox and IE.
Every so often, Internet Explorer does something to infuriate me and I’m
off on another mission to get rid of it. While I’m a big Firefox fan,
there are some Web sites where you just gotta use IE, unfortunately. A lot of
these are corporate intranet sites, meaning organizations that want to move
away from IE can’t always do so, because of the investment they have in
an intranet which requires IE.
Netscape—surprisingly—comes to the rescue with version 8 of their
Web browser. As with past versions of Netscape, this browser starts on the Mozilla.org
code base, specifically Firefox 1.x. But it adds a unique twist: While Web sites
display, by default, in Firefox’s Gecko rendering engine, you can switch
any Web site to instead display using IE’s engine, embedded right within
Netscape. The browser remembers your setting, so that sites requiring IE will
always render in IE. It’s two, two, two browsers in one!
You still get all the Mozilla goodies like tabbed browsing, and different tabs
can even be using Gecko and IE at the same time. Downsides? Well, with the requirement
for IE, Netscape 8 only exists for Windows, which if you’re reading Windows
Tip Sheet probably doesn’t bother you. The biggest downside remains one
that third-party browser manufacturers don’t seem to understand: deployment
and management. Netscape comes as an .EXE, not an .MSI, making it tougher to
deploy with Group Policy. Preferences are file-based (reflecting the product’s
cross-platform roots), rather than registry-based, making Group Policy-based
configuration impossible (or at least highly improbable). IE still wins out
in the deployment/management space.
But, if you’re sick of reading about IE security flaws and looking for
some new features like tabbed browsing, or pop-up blocking, or whatever else,
Netscape 8 is a great alternative. You basically get one browser that combines
Firefox and IE in the best possible way, putting you in control of which one
is used for specific sites. Check it out.
Here are some closely-related links you’ll want to check out.
Get the beta of Netscape 8 here.
Or, if you prefer just plain Firefox.
About the Author
Don Jones is a multiple-year recipient of Microsoft’s MVP Award, and is Curriculum Director for IT Pro Content for video training company Pluralsight. Don is also a co-founder and President of PowerShell.org, a community dedicated to Microsoft’s Windows PowerShell technology. Don has more than two decades of experience in the IT industry, and specializes in the Microsoft business technology platform. He’s the author of more than 50 technology books, an accomplished IT journalist, and a sought-after speaker and instructor at conferences worldwide. Reach Don on Twitter at @concentratedDon, or on Facebook at Facebook.com/ConcentratedDon.