[WEB4LIB] RE: Netscape 6

[Thomas Dowling]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Andrew Mutch" <amutch at waterford.lib.mi.us>

> I would guess it's a marketing move by the AOL/Netscape people.
> "Are you using IE 5.0??  Move up to Netscape 6!"
>

Until very shortly after IE brought out 5.5 beta, there was no indication
that the next major version of Netscape would be anything other than
Netscape 5.0.  Having helped to instill the end user's perception of a
Generation [x] Browser, Netscape marketers were suddenly loath to issue a
browser numbered 5.0 when the competition was up to 5.5, regardless of the
technical capabilities of either product.

"Netscape 2001" was considered briefly.  Then they concocted the
transparent fiction that the pile of garbage code they dumped on the
Mozilla people two years ago (and which they roundfiled) was really
Netscape 5.0; this new version then becomes 6.0, even though 5.0 was never
an official product.

Fine, whatever.  It isn't as if Microsoft is above declaring 5.5 an
official release, throwing in a few tweaks, and bringing out 6.0 beta by
August.

> The product I downloaded today looks just like the Mozilla beta that's
> available

It is.  It consists of a few in-house Netscape developments, some
alterations to the default Mozilla skin, and the Mozilla m14 milestone.
With a little effort, you could create a nearly identical MutchScape 6.0.
;-)

Note the User Agent header:

  Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; N; WinNT4.0; en-US; m14) Netscape6/6.0b1

Since Netscape.com jumped the version number and Mozilla.org has no
intention of following suit, some interesting inter-organizationaly
dynamics have come to light in discussions over exactly what the user
agent string should be.

Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu