AOL may release a Netscape branded IE launcher

AROUND A WEEK AGO, one user of the Netscape 7.1 web browser reported in the support newsgroups at secnews.netscape.com an unusual invitation he received from AOL, asking to participate in a survey.

He agreed, reporting back that the "excruciatingly long" survey focused on opinions for "a 'new desktop companion application' code-named "Netscape Navigator".

Apparently the marketing bots were a little bit uncomfortable with the idea of disturbing the peace of the comatose Netscape branded browser, now on life support -frozen at version 7.1 apparently for the foreseeable future, despite AOL's early claims that they would release updated builds to fix security issues, which it hasn't yet, by the by.

He concluded: "The survey asked questions about the perceived usefulness of the product, and whether it should be named "Navigator", "Companion" or something else other than Netscape". A screen shot of the beast has eventually found the way to the Net.

Apparently, it's a browser inside a tiny round window designed to look like a ship's helm, or a compass, depending on "the eye of the beer holder". The user who was able to test it, explained how the beast works.

"A user clicks an area of the steering wheel to retrieve information, which pops up a small, scrollable window with the information requested. Further clicks on this window would either display more information in the same small window, or launch the user's default web browser".

If the user has Netscape 7.1 set up as the default browser -as most Netscape aficionados do- then the link would open in Netscape. Otherwise, it would launch Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

This last point is what irked more the Netscape browser's faithful users. The opinions were, not surprisingly, all negative: "Knowing AO'Ell, we'll get cubic gallons of chat-rooms" wrote a Netscape 7.1 user from Germany. Others weren't so ironic: "Using Netscape to launch Exploiter is revolting", or "I think I'm gonna go cry somewhere. And then puke my guts out.", or "It's truly dreadful." or "like seeing pictures of your favorite eight year old niece on a child pornography advertisement", or "like Billy Graham and Jesse Jackson doing used car commercials.".

That AOL has managed to annoy many faithful users is no surprise. First it used the Communicator name, which used to mean "Netscape Communicator" - the old, closed source version 4-dot-something browser to create its own beefed up email client for AOL users, based on the Netscape/Mozilla mail client, with speed and interface optimisations.

So a simple question like "are you using Communicator?" suddenly meant two things, and needed a second question "the browser or the email client?"

But it seems that this time, to add insult to injury, it intended to drop the Netscape Gecko engine -and use the one from the Mozilla foundation that AOL is funding, planning instead to use the Netscape brand name in a software product that just calls Microsoft's Internet Explorer engine.*

"That AOL would so cynically use such a respected name for such garbage is really disturbing" one user ended. "I wish NS users/lovers could get the addresses of the people responsible for this crap. I'd love to send them my final regards," fulminated another. ""We bought it, we're entitled to trash it..." raged someone else. "Unfortunately, it is yet another testimony of corporate america going berserk" yelled someone from France.

Why not "Save Netscape"for real?
I don't blame these Netscape users. I'm a Netscape 7.1 user myself. I have followed the Mozilla developments, purchased the Netscape 6.0, 6.1, 6.2, 7.0, 7.02 and 7.1 CDs, in the hope of helping AOL's Netscape Communications subsidiary, which was until last July funding the bulk of the Mozilla.org project development with Netscape programmers on AOL's payroll. So yes, I felt saddened and betrayed too when I heard about AOL laying off all these great people.

To see the irony of all this, one has to understand how the Netscape 6.x and 7.x series browsers were created and released. AOL's subsidiary released these "Netscape branded" browsers periodically, taking the Mozilla.org source code and adding a few proprietary modules for its 'exclusive' features that Mozilla builds lacked, and consisting of mostly multi-platform files, programmed in XUL.

The changes included adding the AIM / ICQ instant messenger sidebar tab, changes to the Netscape Mail client that allowed accessing the netscape.net webmail as if it were a regular imap account, and even aol e-mail support. On top of this Mozilla base and XUL sidebar module, they packaged other external programs like Netscape Radio -a windows executable that loaded AOL's Spinner.com radio streams though a nice interface, Macromedia's Flash and Sun's Java plug-ins, and finally quality commercial spell-checker dictionaries for the email client.

When AOL laid off the bulk of the Netscape programmers, the majority of them were people silently working on the "Gecko engine" - the guts of the browser, shared by Mozilla and Netscape 7.x, and fixing Mozilla bugs. Now that the Mozilla project has a new life in the hands of the Mozilla Foundation, and with third parties like IBM throwing cash at it, the future of the "Gecko engine" and Mozilla is, for now, assured.

So, really, since AOL apparently continues interested in maintaining their Netscape.com news portal and its associated services - webmail, calendar - all under the "N"etscape brand name, what prevents AOL from periodically taking every major stable release of the Mozilla Browser, changing the loading logo, the "splash screen" in programmerspeak; the animated icon, the "throbber" in Mozillaspeak; and the AIM/ICQ sidebar module and other small extensions, and call it Netscape 7.2, 7.5, Netscape 8.0, or Netscape 2003 Revenge of the Nerds? Nothing.

Would it take AOL's client division several hundred developers - like Netscape once had - to do this? No. Probably not. Taking every Mozilla stable release put out by the Mozilla Foundation and "branding it" into a commercial Netscape browser could be done by a small team of four or five programmers, most of which are probably still working at AOL's client division. I know two guys that were Netscape Corp employees who continue working inside AOL's Client Development division.

That is - and here comes the conspiracy theory - unless there is a secret agreement between the Virginia-based company and Redmond's Vole, as part of AOL's licensing of Internet Explorer and Windows Media technologies, to kill and sink the Netscape brand name into the depths of the sea.

Continuing in the conspiracy theorist mode. Perhaps the DOJ could investigate if AOL is conspiring to help Microsoft retain their lock on the browser market share and Windows Media technologies for financial gain?

You get my point by now, and one shared by thousands of loyal Netscape 7.x browser users ready to change their home page from netscape.com to any other and ready to switch to mozilla to never come back. I hope AOL's client division manager does too.

The message is simple: AOL if you're serious about Netscape.com's future, if you have any respect to all the users currently loading the netscape.com home page on a daily basis and helping with your online revenue, you could resurrect the Netscape branded browser releases, gluing its few small additions to the the work of the now-independent Mozilla Foundation. Otherwise, if you want to continue annoying the remaining faithful users, let the Netscape brand name that you have killed rest in peace, instead of toying with the corpse.

An online petition has been setup under the domain name www.savenetscape.org. If you agree with some of what has been said here and would like to continue having a supported Netscape browser based on Mozilla.org builds, you're welcome to sign it. Of course, the chances are slim, but stranger things have happened.

Please don't bother to flame me. The realist in my says it will be pointless but the romantic in me says "anything is possible" and forced me to write this column. µ

* CORRECTION This should read: But it seems that this time, to add insult to injury, it intended not to use the Netscape Gecko engine -not even using the one from the Mozilla foundation that AOL is funding, planning instead to....