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Users cry foul with Netscape 6
(IDG) -- Microsoft's Internet Explorer is widely considered the victor in the once-heated Web browser war, but Netscape over the years has secured a large pool of users furiously loyal to the 4.x and earlier browser versions. But America Online's Netscape may have taken a serious misstep with the release of it latest browser, Netscape 6. The new browser officially hit the market in mid-November after several preview release versions were made available to users. Netscape 6 was in development for more than two years, resulting in a long dry spell between product launches for the Netscape division of AOL. 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. Officials at AOL's Netscape subsidiary said they stand by the release of 6.0, and that it provides great improvements in personalization and user-requested features. "Netscape 6 represents a quantum leap forward in convenience, customizability, Web standards support, and user privacy protection. Netscape 6 offers groundbreaking features, and we have answered a burning need for our users by putting it out in the marketplace," said Michael La Guardia, director of product marketing Netscape client product development, in Mountain View, Calif., via e-mail. But one user who reported numerous small frustrations, such as the lack of keyboard functionality and plug-in support, said Netscape 6 felt like an unfinished product.
"There are some bugs from Netscape 4 that were fixed, but it seems they didn't test [Netscape 6] before they took it public. The product is not ready for the public," said Bob Clark, Netscape 6 user in Los Angeles. Robert McLellan, department manager at Raytheon in Fort Wayne, In., attempted to use Netscape 6 at his business but complained that the browser had little use in a corporate environment. "Microsoft's Internet Explorer automatically recognized the corporate firewall/proxy server when I tried it, but I could never get Netscape 6 to work from inside the firewall. My business is military electronics design business. Because of the firewall/proxy server issues, Netscape 6 is totally useless at work," McLellan said. Another Netscape user, Chris Cookson, who is a technical director of a software services company in New Zealand, complained of slow installation and poor integration with the e-mail client "Netscape 6 fails badly as an integrated Internet suite, which was one of the things I always liked about [previous versions]. The e-mail client is so slow and clunky that it is unusable. And there are features that worked fine in Netscape 4.x that are not yet available in 6.0," he said. Cookson also was critical of a new feature of Netscape 6 called "skins," which let users customize the look and feel of the browser. "Whether it is really worth paying the price in the huge performance hit you'll suffer just to get a cuter looking browser is a bit doubtful," he said. "After several years of being a diehard Netscape user, I finally think it's probably time to lay it to rest, but this time I don't blame Microsoft," Cookson said. According to analysts, because user impetus to upgrade to a new browser is not strong, vendors are tying to push more and more functionality into Web browser releases to make the change appear worthwhile. "People need to be given a compelling reason to change from where they are now with Web browsers. In enterprise environment, for example, distributing browsers is costly and time-consuming, so you need a huge step up in functionality to go through the pain," said Dana Gardner, research director for messaging and collaboration, at the Aberdeen Group, in Boston. Another analyst added that because Netscape has found itself in second place behind Internet Explorer, Netscape is trying to regain market share with new features and services. "Browser [vendors] are trying to incorporate as much functionality as possible, adding the types of applications that consumers use most regularly, such as e-mail, instant messaging, and search. The general trend is to own the online users experience from end to end. AOL has had a lot of success with this -- keeping surfers within its walls -- and now it is trying to [extend it] to Netscape," said Rob Lancaster, analyst for Internet market strategies at The Yankee Group, in Boston. Adding to the browser mix, new browser entrant Opera Software is quietly gaining ground in the market as well as valuable mind share with spurned Netscape users. Earlier this month Opera released a free version of its browser, which may help drive the new product's growth and its competitive strength against Netscape and IE. RELATED STORIES: Free browser takes on Explorer, Netscape RELATED IDG.net STORIES: Bug hunter reveals another IE vulnerability RELATED SITES: Netscape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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