Netscape 8.0
Netscape 8.0 is primarily based on Firefox source code. However, Netscape lets users choose whether to use the Firefox or IE rendering engines. If you visit a Web site designed specifically for IE, you can quickly switch to the IE rendering engine to gain any necessary site functionality.
Most of the features you find in Firefox are available in Netscape, so I won't repeat them. However, you should be aware of one limitation: Netscape runs only on Windows platforms.
On the surface, Netscape's UI is much like Firefox's, although I found it to be somewhat cluttered and unpleasant to the eye. Even so, a notable security difference exists under the hood. Netscape offers security via Site Controls, which are similar to IE's Security Zones. You can define master settings that determine how the browser will behave for each site you visit. There are four master settings: I Trust This Site, I'm Not Sure, I Don't Trust This Site, and Local Files (equivalent to IE's Trusted Sites, Internet, Restricted Sites, and Local Intranet zones, respectively). For each zone, you can enable or disable various Web features, such as Java, JavaScript, cookies, and pop-up windows. And because Netscape supports the IE rendering engine, you can also specify whether to allow use of ActiveX controls. Figure 3 shows how Netscape takes the zone concept a step further than IE by letting you adjust Site Controls in a given zone on a per-site basis.
Another part of Site Controls is Trust Ratings, which when enabled cause the browser to rely on a third party to determine whether to trust a Web site's content and enter sensitive information at that site. Trust Ratings uses a catalog maintained by a third party and can be refreshed hourly, daily, or weekly. Just who this third party is remains unknown to me; my inquiries regarding this question (and future browser features) went unanswered.
Netscape also supports a nifty multibar feature, which lets you configure as many as 10 toolbars that can be accessed quickly. The feature also lets you scroll RSS headlines in toolbars. And like the other browsers I tested, Netscape supports an auto-fill feature that can save form field information and fill in those fields when you revisit a Web page.
Overall,Netscape is a slick Web browser. Even so, I prefer Firefox for day-to-day Web surfing, primarily because there aren't many extensions or themes available for Netscape. (Netscape uses the same extension architecture as Firefox uses, so many of those extensions would probably work, but you might need to edit the extensions' code manually.)
Internet Explorer 7.0 Beta 1
Microsoft's next version of IE, IE 7.0, was still in Beta 1 testing at the time of this writing. IE 7.0 promises to be a vast improvement over earlier versions of the browser.
Last I heard, IE 7.0 might actually be released as an update to XP (by the end of 2005) but will definitely ship as a standard part of the upcoming Windows Vista OS. On the downside, the fact that Microsoft considers the browser to be an official part of the OS means that IE 7.0 will be back-ported for use only on Windows Server 2003 and XP. Microsoft said that porting the browser to earlier Windows versions would be too difficult.
It's been a long time since Microsoft added any significant non-security features to the browser. As such, IE has a lot of catching up to do with the likes of Opera, Firefox, and Netscape, and the company isn't wasting any time in mirroring many of those browsers' most appealing features.
New IE features will include support for RSS and Atom feeds so that other applications on the desktop will be able to share those feeds. IE 7.0 will also make it simple for users to delete all Web use history, Web form data and passwords, temporary files, and cookies. Other improvements include better compliance with widely accepted Web standards such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), which means the browser will be more compatible with progressive Web sites.
IE 7.0 will also have a slightly different UI than its predecessors, finally offering direct support for tabbed browsing along with a search engine located near the address bar (a feature similar to the other browsers I tested). A key feature of IE is that, at the time of this writing, it's the only browser that you can thoroughly control by using Active Directory (AD) and Group Policy, which makes it attractive for midsized and large enterprises.
Like the other browsers in this report, IE is customizable. Functionality can be added by using registry entries and Dynamic HTML (DHTML) or by developing add-ons in C, Pascal, and other programming languages. Although far more add-ons are available for Firefox, IE users enjoy a wide selection of add-ons that introduce various types of functionality, such as the MSN Search Toolbar, Google toolbar, Yahoo! Toolbar, weather site interfaces, mass-downloading tools, Voice over IP (VoIP) tools, and more.
As expected, IE 7.0 will offer stronger security. That's good news because IE has long been a prime target of vulnerability hunters and intruders, and as such has seen many security patches over the years. In fact, Beta 1 is focused primarily on security. But there is a caveat associated with the improved security: You won't get the full advantage of the final release version without upgrading to Windows Vista.
One new security feature will be No Add-ons Mode, which causes the browser to operate with all ActiveX controls, toolbars, and add-ons disabled. A new add-ons manager, which is somewhat similar to the managers in Firefox and Netscape, will let users view installed add-ons and ActiveX controls and enable or disable any of them with a click of the mouse.
Another security feature will be protection against phishing attacks. When you visit a site, the browser will perform a real-time URL lookup against a database (maintained by Microsoft) of known and suspected phishing sites. If you're visiting such a site, the browser will warn you, as Figure 4 shows. This feature is similar to the functionality found in Netscape's Trust Ratings.
IE will also provide a Protected Mode, in which the browser will be unable to modify files and system settings. In this mode, the browser will be isolated from the OS and will communicate with the underlying OS by using a broker process. In addition, Protected Mode will severely restrict COM objects and the browser will be able to write only to the temporary Internet files directory. These features will help protect the system against infiltration by various forms of malware.
IE 7.0 is only in its preliminary testing stages and therefore additional features aren't set in stone yet. Microsoft says that it expects the browser to undergo changes continually until the final product is released.
Summing Up
All four of the browsers I tested are powerful, flexible, and packed with features. Each browser is a reasonable choice for everyday use, depending on whether you prefer open-source products or need AD integration. I prefer Firefox because of its huge base of community support, multiplatform support, and available features.
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