Is Netscape dead?

[Paul H. Gray]

On Thursday, November 18, 1999 12:43 PM, josh at saratoga.lib.ny.us 
[SMTP:josh at saratoga.lib.ny.us] wrote:
> > But, seriously, are most others in agreement with Dan Lester's post
> > (portions below) and is there really no other choice but IE?  I for one 
am
> > not willing to let go of Netscape that easily...yet.  I find some of 
the
>
> No, NetScape is not dead. There are many alternative browsers. I find
> myself using Lynx more and more, believing that if I can't view a site
> with a text based browser it is not worth looking at. There are also
> numerous alternative browsers: opera, amaya, arena, icab, tango,
> etc. The only reason MSIE is gaining is because of Microsoft's lock on
> the pre-installed operating system market. The test of a browser
> should be foremost in its ability to correctly display HTML. The
> authorship is irrelevant. The web site,
> http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/howclock.html, which shows how to get an
> accurate clock on a web page is one of many, that points out something
> that NetScape got right that MSIE didn't. (I haven't checked this against
> the latest version of MSIE.)
>
> That said. I did do a custom install of MSIE with all the Global IME
> features for foreign languages and I was impressed. (It was 45MB and
> the installer required a live internet connection - did work through
> my squid proxy running on Linux, though.) I will contact Netscape and
I don't recommend to our librarians that we replace Netscape on our public 
access stations with IE for pretty much the same reason I don't recommend 
Communicator (we use NN 4.08)  -- It adds complications without adding any 
benefit.
Navigator 4.08 performs well and has been as stable as any browser, is 
simple to lock down and accesses any sight our patrons need.  When sites 
come along that require features Netscape doesn't provide  --  or when IE 
comes up with something CONSIDERABLY better --for our purposes--- we will 
probably switch.

Note the emphasis on  - for our purposes -
In thier offices our staff have access to IE (came with NT), Navigator, or 
Communicator ( if they request it)
Different tools for different needs and different preferences.

Paul H. Gray
TCCD Northeast Library