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Just three years ago, America Online bought failing Netscape and promised to restore the once-dominant Web browser to its former glory. Well, we waited and waited. Meanwhile, Microsoft Internet Explorer continued to improve until it became the best browser on the Mac platform.
At long last, AOL has released a new Mac version of Netscape and, boy, is it getting razzed. Bulletin boards across the Web are trashing Netscape 6.0 as a sluggish, bloated monster that can't stay up and running long enough to be tried. Here's a typical screed from VersionTracker's bulletin board: "A horrible, horrible attempt at a browser."
I had to see for myself if Netscape, the fabled tool that introduced most of us to the Web, really had become this bad. After messing with it for a few days, I'll say this: Mac users haven't lost their gift for hyperbole -- and that goes double when it comes to trashing software from such giants as Microsoft and AOL.
Yes, Netscape 6.0 has some serious problems -- but it also shows promise. I found that it downloaded quickly, as promised, and it was easy to install. For the most part, sharply rendered, easy-to-read pages appeared fast. The new instant messaging feature, borrowed from parent AOL, worked well.
HIGHER BAR. However, the critics are right about one thing: Netscape 6.0's stability leaves much to be desired. It kept crashing on me, which I suspect is what's angering most people. But that may not be the only reason Mac users are disappointed. The success of Microsoft Internet Explorer has raised expectations pretty high with regard to browser appearance, functionality, and ease of use.
To save you the headache of testing 6.0 yourself, here's a rundown of AOL's maiden attempt at resurrecting Netscape. The first thing you'll notice is a face-lift. Gone are the sharply rendered icons, such as a stoplight and a shopping bag, that ran along the top as part of the main toolbar. They've been replaced by large buttons with cartoonish representations of functions -- a drawing of a little printer for the print command, for example.
This style change runs counter to where Apple is headed design-wise, which is pushing developers toward using the photo-realistic icons that will be supported in OS X, the new operating system scheduled for release early next year. Nothing in Netscape 6.0 looks remotely supportive of OS X -- not a good sign.
LESS ABOUT BROWSING. That AOL chose a stripped-down look is surprising for another reason. Netscape has been rebuilt around a new, souped-up rendering engine called Gecko, which supports all the new graphic standards on the Web and is supposed to load complex images quickly. In fact, Gecko sounds like the perfect platform to make OS X's photo-realistic style shine.
AOL has made other subtle, but significant changes in 6.0. Netscape is less about browsing Web pages and more about using the Internet to do things, such as tracking stocks, listening to music, instant messaging friends, and shopping online. Most of these functions are run out of a new side panel called "My Sidebar," which is very much like a feature pioneered by Internet Explorer a few years back.
In Explorer, you use a side panel that slides in and out with a mouse click to execute searches, store Web addresses, and save Web pages offline. Netscape's "My Sidebar" includes these features and plenty more. You can, for example, keep an Instant Messager Buddy List in the sidebar, the idea being that you can IM friends from the sidebar while still viewing Web pages.
PASSWORD MANAGER. Every function, such as a Buddy List, is kept as a separate tab, and the sidebar can store more than 600 tabs. The sidebar is a compelling idea, so don't be surprised if Microsoft soon beefs up its own tabbed side window to match Netscape's enhanced functionality. Microsoft may control 80% of the browser market, but it nevertheless remains fiercely competitive.
Other powerful new features in Netscape 6.0 include a manager that remembers all your passwords and automatically signs you into sites, and the ability to keep multiple e-mail accounts and choose from scores of interface designs.
All this is great stuff. But, alas, it's meaningless if AOL can't design its browser to stay running for any length of time. I wouldn't rush to try Netscape 6.0 just yet. Give AOL a couple of months to straighten out the stability problems. If AOL can do that, it may have a real winner in Netscape 6.0 for the Mac.
Haddad, Atlanta-based correspondent for Business Week, is a long-time Apple Computer buff. Follow his weekly Byte of the Apple column, only on BW Online Edited by Thane Peterson
Copyright 2000, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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