By Rachel Chalmers
The Netscape subsidiary of America Online Inc has announced version 4.6 of its web browsing and email software package, Communicator. Where earlier versions of Communicator let users type quote and a ticker symbol into the browser to obtain real- time stock prices, the new Navigator browser has even more built- in internet keywords to usher lazy surfers to Netscape partner sites. Type san francisco movies or new york weather into the location bar and you’ll be whisked to an approved information source. As for content type, that should also be less of a problem with this new iteration; Navigator 4.6 includes the streaming audio and video client RealPlayer G2.
All eyes, however, are still on Netscape Communicator 5, slated to be the first commercial release based on technology developed by the open source Mozilla project. Mozilla’s Gecko next- generation layout engine is gaining momentum, the company claims. Bradbury Software, CiTEC, Cyberworld, NeoPlanet, Sausage Software and Telescan Imagicast have all said they will integrate Gecko with products of their own.
We are witnessing a new chapter in software development, as the Mozilla community that helped build the Gecko browsing engine now applies the technology, said senior VP of client products Bob Lisbonne. Stirring stuff, but Mozilla has already slipped many deadlines and lost its chief instigator and rabble-rouser, Jamie Zawinski. The later Communicator 5 gets, the more skeptical other software developers may be about what Zawinski called the magic pixie dust of open source development methods.
