Is "www" desirable in web site URL?

[Laura B. Cohen]

I'm not so sure you can always leave off "www" in the URL when
you're using Netscape. (I'm on 3.0 for Windows 3.1).

My university's home page is www.albany.edu. When I just point
the browser to "albany.edu," I get to a forwarding page set up
last year, pointing to the new university home page. I need to
type "www.albany.edu" to get to the current page.

  -- Laura Cohen