A Brief Word on Netscape 7.0

Tuesday, 3 September 2002

So Netscape 7.0 is out. Does anyone care? If so, please let me know why anyone in their right mind would want to use Netscape 7 instead of Mozilla 1.1.

The best and most-popular browser feature in Mozilla is its ability to block pop-up ads. And, of course, Netscape removed this feature from its browser. Wait, that’s not all. Not only did they remove the ad-blocking — a feature that is popular because people are annoyed by stupid ads — but they junked up the browser UI by adding a bunch of their own ads for crappy AOL services.

This isn’t just preposterously dumb — it’s sad. Especially so if you remember when Netscape was cool, back when a major new version of Netscape meant that the entire web instantly became a better place.