Netscape Version 6

Netscape Communicator version 6 is a suite of software programs from Netscape which is owned by AOL. The flagship product is the Navigator web browser.

What Netscape calls version 6 is really version 5. They decided to call it version 6 because Internet Explorer is at version 5 and they wanted it to seem like it was newer. I have not yet used Netscape Communicator version 6, so what follows are the gripes of others.

I don't yet have a page for Netscape v7 gripes, so:
Netscape 7.0 Shrivels Under Mozilla's Shadow. August 29, 2002 By Jim Rapoza in eWeek Magazine. The author much prefers Mozilla 1.1 over Netscape 7.

Netscape flaw leaves cookies unsecure InfoWorld magazine. January 29, 2002. A security bug in Netscape Communications' Navigator Web browser can let malicious Web site operators view the information stored in cookies on a user's computer. The bug affects Navigator versions 6 through 6.2, as well as version 0.9.6 and earlier versions of the open-source version of Navigator, Mozilla. Netscape urges users to upgrade to version 6.2.1, which fixes the problem. CNN also covered this.

Users cry foul with Netscape 6. December 22, 2000. InfoWorld magazine. Netscape may have taken a serious misstep with the release of it latest browser, Netscape 6. Many users, turned critics, have reported that the product seems unfinished and the company would have better served users by waiting for the completion of the open-source Mozilla browser, set to be released in early 2001. User complaints about Netscape 6 vary from lack of stability, to performance drags caused by new customizable "skins", to the lack of business-oriented functions.

Real world Netscape 6 Experiences. December 1, 2000. Windows Insider Newsletter. By Scott Finnie. Part of Windows Magazine. Quoting: "You would not believe the heartache Netscape 6 is causing on some people's PCs. The experiences you sent me from the last issue of Insider were far more heavily weighed toward the negative than the positive. Probably half of the messages I've received are about failed installations..."

What I think of Netscape 6. November 17, 2000. Windows Insider Newsletter. Quoting: "Netscape 6 isn't perfect. You're going to hear about bugs from a variety of sources. Winmag.com's own Hot Fixes department, written by Dave Methvin, published a story today about Netscape 6 bugs. Several other bugs and odd behaviors are described in the forthcoming review, as well."

Speaking of Dave Methvin, he reported on November 13, 2000 on comments made by JavaScript author David Flanagan that Navigator v6 is so buggy, the product should be withdrawn.

Netscape 6 Browser: Mixed Bag. November 30, 2000. The New York Times. By David Pogue. The gripes reported in this article are:

Netscape Navigator 6 is a memory hog. You can't run it on computers that have 32 meg of RAM, 64 is the minimum. When running, it uses 20 to 25 megabytes of RAM.
It takes almost a minute for Navigator 6 to start up, even on new, fast computers.
Several useful features in the previous versions have disappeared. No more print preview! You can't drag a web site's address bar icon directly into the Bookmarks any more. You can no longer right click on the address bar to copy or paste a URL. You have to resize the browser window every time the program starts up. It no longer remembers the window size that was last used. You can't highlight the entire address bar with a single click, but instead have to drag the mouse over it entirely.
There is still no "turn off blinking animations" option
There is still nothing like the IE Save command that can save a web page in all its glory, graphics and all.

Did Netscape jump the gun with new browser? November 30, 2000. CNet. Long heckled for being late to market with its new browser, Netscape Communications is now the target of critics who say the company jumped the gun in releasing the browser this month. "Netscape 6 still plays like beta software," said Glenn Davis an independent Web publisher. "The results I've had using it seem to indicate that it's just not quite finished."

A Browser for Nothing-but-net Folk. Business Week Magazine. December 18, 2000 issue. By Stephen H.Wildstrom. It is pointed out here that Netscape v6 is intended as a consumer product. This rationalizes why a number of features used by corporations are left out. However, Netscape says the corporate features will be in the next iteration of the browser. The missing features are: secure email, directory service and the ability to download whole folders of messages for work offline.

FYI: The Langa List of December 18, 2000 has an item explaining why ZoneAlarm detects Netscape v6 acting as a server. It is claimed that the Personal Security Manager, which acts as a secure proxy to itself, is to blame. The general tech support FAQ from ZoneLabs says "Netscape's browser also requires server rights to function properly." However, it does not distinguish between Netscape v4 and v6. Version 6 needs the server rights, version 4 does not.

FYI: This site also has gripes on version 4 of Netscape Communicator.

Page last updated: September 2, 2002