Netscape is the browser that everyone has probably used at one point or another. Don’t try and block it from your memory, it’s okay, there is no arguing that Netscape Navigator was the hot browser of the 90’s.
Last October I took a look at what Netscape 8 had to offer, which included a lot of improvements over prior versions. The most notable feature was that it was based on the Firefox rendering engine. This was also the first time that they moved away from being an entire Internet Suite (browser, email, etc…) and focused solely on being a browser that people would respect.
Netscape 9.0 Beta 1 was just released last night, and they have decided to bring something back that hasn’t been around since version 6! When Netscape 7 launched they decided to remove “Navigator” from the name, but it returns in full glory in Netscape Navigator 9.
So I’ll give you a visual walk-through of a few new features in Netscape 9, some of which should be included in Firefox. Besides having all of the great Firefox 2 features (spell check, session restore, etc…) it also has all of this included:
–URL Correction–
It looks for common mistakes that you would make when typing in a URL. It can autocorrect up to 30 different mistakes, for example, typing “cybernetnewscom” will automatically get changed to “cybernetnews.com”.
–Link Pad–
This is actually such a simple idea, yet incredibly useful because of how they implemented it. Link Pad is a simple sidebar item that will store hyperlinks you drag on to it (or on the icon in the bottom-left corner). It is essentially a bookmark system, yet it is kept separate from your bookmarks to keep things a little more organized. I look at it as a place for “disposable” URL’s that you’ll only visit one time. After you click on a URL, it will automatically be removed from the Link Pad…that’s the best part.
–Extension Compatibility–
All Firefox 2 extensions should now work perfectly in Netscape. Thank goodness! I tried both IE Tab and Tab Mix Plus, two very popular Firefox extensions, and each worked flawlessly. Kudos to the Netscape team for making sure people could still use their Firefox
http://browser.netscape.com/
Thanks drhayden1 for the review,
Netscape sure looks promising. But boy they have to give their best to win some audience according to this:
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp 
Good luck from me.
I paid for Netscape a long time ago. Still have the manual around someplace.
I gave up on them when they became one of the biggest anti MS voices because
MS came out with a FREE browser.
Just remember, the old Netscape isn’t around any more. It’s now an AOL product.
Same here. I think it was about forty dollars. I’ve stayed with Netscape type browsers throughout all of my Internet use. My avatar gives a clue to that.