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Latest Netscape browser as good as gold
Nov. 19, 2000
By JIM BROOKS Netscape Communications Corp. quietly unveiled its latest Web browser, Netscape 6, this week to surprisingly good reviews. The new browser is quite a departure from the old Communicator suite, though it does contain most of the functions Communicator offered. Netscape gave its new browser a high-tech up-to-date look. The interface features interchangeable skins, a feature found on the NeoPlanet Web browser. The skins allow you to change the colors and of the browser by loading a new skin. Several are available from the Netscape Web site, and Netscape has a free utility that can be used by creative-types to create new browser skins. One of the improvements in the Netscape 6 interface is better integration of various services. For example, the window that displays the Web address is also the window where you type in keywords or phrases to search for. A "Search" button is adjacent to the window to initiate a search, and users can go into the setup and select from a list of search engines that the feature will use. When conducting a search, a feature called "My Sidebar" opens from the left side of the screen. It has the list of search items found and the user can click on the one they want to display that Web site. My Sidebar collapses into the left border of the browser window, and can be re-opened by clicking on a small tab. The My Sidebar window can also be customized by the user. I put my bookmark list there rather than use the pull-down one from the top toolbar. Users can also set up My Sidebar to list their favorite stocks, news headlines from CNN and a variety of other sources, as well as entertainment and sports news. Both Netscape and Microsoft fudged around for several years trying to come up with ways to give content easily to users. All of them failed, but I believe Netscape has a winner this time. The whole browser interface is simpler than before. There's no button labeled "shopping" on the tool bar; just four navigation buttons and an icon to click to print the current page. Of course, other functions are available, but you'll need to access them through the pull-down menu. Macintosh users will want to note that for the first time in recent memory, the Mac version a new Web browser was available the SAME day as one for the PC platform. In years past, both Netscape and Microsoft have shipped the PC versions first. Mac browsers were always released later. Perhaps it's a sign that all those G3s, iMacs and G4s are gaining some respect from the rest of the world who isn't Macintosh-savvy. The new browser has some critics, particularly corporate users of Communicator who will find some of the features they need missing, including support for some messaging and directory systems. For more information, visit Netscape's Web site at www.netscape.com. NEW DOMAIN NAMES. Like the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889, the rush for new "good" domain names may take place now that new ones will soon be available. ICANN, the Internet oversight board, approved the creation of seven new Web address suffixes. The new addresses will solve the problem of all the "good" Web addresses being already registered. Some Internet entrepreneurs have claimed that the 20 million dot-com names registered worldwide give little opportunity for new online ventures to register easy-to-remember Web addresses. The new suffixes are the first added since the domain name system was developed. The original ones in use now are .com, .org, .net, .edu, .mil, and .gov. In the early days of the Web, the suffixes were closely administered. Only Internet providers or similar businesses could register a domain with a ".net" suffix. Non-profit groups, clubs or other organizations were only allowed to have the ".org" suffix. The only domains that are still closely administered are ".edu" for education, ".mil" and ".gov" for military and government Web sites, respectively. The new domain suffixes could be available for use in the next six months. The new domain suffixes include:
• .info,
for general use. YAHOO! MAY CHARGE YOU. Yahoo!, the Internet's top Web directory, is now requiring many commercial Web sites to pay to be added to its listings. The $199 payment -- previously an option for businesses wanting to expedite their Yahoo! listing -- is now a mandatory fee for listings in its "Business to Business" and "Shopping and Services" categories. In years past, businesses could submit their Web sites to Yahoo! at no cost, though it frequently took many weeks (and sometimes months) for a listing to appear in its directory. Listings in other Yahoo! categories will remain free -- though the delay to get listed may still take weeks or months. Paying the $199 fee is the only way to get a site listed on Yahoo! more quickly. The fee is non-refundable, and even after paying there is no guarantee that Yahoo's editors, who decide which sites are in or out, will include a paid site in the directory. For more information, visit www.yahoo.com. SCOUR SOURS. The Scour Exchange, a Napster-like file-swapping service, abruptly shut down its operation recently due to pressure from its bankruptcy and hefty copyright infringement lawsuits. Seven million people had downloaded the Scour software, and that technology will be sold as one of the company's assets. Though Scour had the backing of Hollywood mogul Michael Ovitz, it was unable to make money and faced considerable pressure due to claims from music and motion picture associations that users were pirating copyrighted audio and video. For more information, visit the Scour Web site at www.scour.com. BAD YEAR FOR DOT-COMS. The fantasy ride of endless funding thrown at "dot-com" companies came to a screeching halt earlier this year, and a new study shows the number of shuttered Internet companies will be a testament to how overvalued the companies were. The dot-com death count stands at 130, according to Webmergers, a San Francisco company that tracks Internet company mergers and acquisitions. Twenty-one of the 130 closed in the first half of November alone. The closings represent more than 8,000 jobs, the study said. Many more companies were absorbed or purchased and didn't show up on the list as "dead," the survey said. Of the failed online businesses, 75 percent were consumer businesses. Sixty percent were e-commerce companies. California topped the survey's list of closures with 46, followed by New York with 14. Comments and questions about this column may be sent to jbrooks@myoldkentuckyhome.com, or visit www.myoldkentuckyhome.com on the World Wide Web. | HOME | |