Netscape (was Re: PayPal = payola?)

From: Richard Erlacher <edick_at_idcomm.com>
Date: Fri Jan 25 09:21:17 2002

Well, before the release of Win95, I used Mosaic, on which both Netscape and
Internet Explorer freely admit they're based. Before that, I used ICOMM,
which was a sort of local shell for use with *NIX shell accounts. It also
worked just fine, for the time, since there wasn't so much graphic
razzle-dazzle.

When Netscape was released, it required a third-party "WINSOCK" module that
one had to buy from someone, normally "Trumpet" and that P*SSED me off, since
I'd previously been able to work with a free version. I did give Netscape a
try for a month or three months or whatever the "free trial period" for the
Trumpet winsock module was, but that turned out to be a poor choice next to
the entirely free and entirely functional Internet Explorer betas that were
out by that time. Since I was using a shell account, as well as a
full-service account with Netcom, I tried out the Netscape, and the Mosaic,
AND the early Internet Explorer, in contrast to NetCruiser, which seemed to
work better than any of the others in the context of the Netcom environment,
understandably. None of them caused nearly so much trouble as the
Nestcape/Trumped combo, and when the Trumped winsock trial expired, I flushed
it and didn't look back.

The only people I know still using Netscape today are the chronic
Microsoft-haters, who couldn't look objectively at the situation if their
lives hung in the balance. From where I sit, there are several options in the
browser market, the most commonly used of which is Internet Explorer. There
are a few others, of which Netscape/AOL appears to be the least satisfactory
of the bunch.

I'll admit, my position is based on opinion and circumstance, but, before I go
to using Netscape, I'd have to look at Mosaic again. Internet Explorer is
getting a mite heavy from all the creeping featurism, but maybe some other
browser will press the M$ folks to clean things up. I doubt it will be AOL,
however.

Dick

----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Merchberger" <zmerch_at_30below.com>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 1:46 PM
Subject: Re: Netscape (was Re: PayPal = payola?)


> Rumor has it that Richard Erlacher may have mentioned these words:
>
> >I wish my browsing were as fast as the other things I do under Windows!
> >Nearly anything is over before I get my finger off the <ENTER> key. Note
> that
> >I said key, and not mouse button. Unfortunately, the Windows browser
doesn't
> >work as well with keys as the rest of the GUI. One CAN learn to use the
> >keyboard, though.
>
> Hell, *everything* I do is fast -- Winders & Linux! [[ahem... I have a
> dual-processor Athlon MP 1600+ -- dual SCSI, dual LAN, etc... so I realize
> this isn't a fair fight... ;-) ]]
>
> [[ also see comments below from a different poster(s) ]]
>
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Owen Robertson" <univac2_at_earthlink.net>
> >To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
> >Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 12:21 PM
> >Subject: Re: PayPal = payola?
> >
> >
> >> on 1/24/02 12:59 PM, Doc at doc_at_mdrconsult.com wrote:
> >>
> >> > On Thu, 24 Jan 2002, Richard Erlacher wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Since AOL bought Netscrape, they've done more to kill it than M$ ever
> >did.
>
> Amen. Which is too bad, because IMNSHO, Netscape always was better...
>
> >> >> I'll be glad when it's finally gone, along with AOL, though.
> >> >
> >> > AMEN! I dunno about the Windows version, but NS 6 for Linux is a
> >> > buggy farce of a resource hog. Netscape was one of the front runners
in
> >> > developing a Linux port of their mainstream application, and the Linux
> >> > port was always at least as stable as the Windows one. If that's still
> >> > true, Netscape is headed for the dumper. The quality & stability of
the
> >> > Netscape suite has declined almost since the day AOL bought 'em. "More
> >> > features! Screw debugging!"
>
> Hmmm... dunno about the Mac version, but they've *really* improved the
> Winders & Linux versions - 6.0 *just* *plain* *sucked* - and not just any
> sucked - it sucked canal water rectally... ;-) It was slower than molasses
> in January, as well...
>
> 6.1 didn't add a single feature - all they did is clean up bugs & speed it
> up. 6.2 cleaned up some more, but they still had a few, hence 6.21. I've
> only found one bug in 6.21, and that's trying to get rid of that idiot tab
> feature in the mail program sometimes locked the application. After 3 or 4
> tries, I was successful, and it's not crashed since. I usually keep it
> running for a week at a time, and it usually crashes once or twice a month,
> much less than Exploder 5.5 and seems to be faster as well, on Win2k. [At
> work, I have a Celery 450] The linux port is just as stable, and a lot of
> webpages (like my Yahoo Mail) look better on the new Netscape vs. IE 5.x.
>
> I don't even have Netscape 4.x installed anymore... That's how stable 6.21
is!
>
> As an install, Netscape 6.x is still smaller than IE6 as well, and IE is
> still half-built-in to Winders...
>
> Laterz,
> Roger "Merch" Merchberger
> --
> Roger "Merch" Merchberger --- sysadmin, Iceberg Computers
> Recycling is good, right??? Ok, so I'll recycle an old .sig.
>
> If at first you don't succeed, nuclear warhead
> disarmament should *not* be your first career choice.
>
>
Received on Fri Jan 25 2002 - 09:21:17 GMT