HP to Install Netscape on all new PCs 401
TJ Parisi writes "News.com is reporting that HP / Compaq will begin to install all PCs sold in the US and Canada with Netscape. Users will be prompted with the option to set either Netscape or IE as the default browser." From the article: "The agreement, which the companies are set to announce Monday, is the first browser distribution deal with a major PC maker since the end of the browser wars in the 1990s, according to Netscape, a division of Time Warner's America Online subsidiary."
Why did Microsoft allow this? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why did Microsoft allow this? (Score:2)
More Pre-Bundled Software! Yay! (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, this is a dumb idea. (Score:2, Informative)
About time? (Score:4, Funny)
IE for IE makes the web blind (Score:2, Interesting)
Netscape is about seven years late. I want to understand why they didn't do something like this when they were battling M$ in an anti-trust lawsuit. Well, yea it makes sense. You can't do something and go to court saying that your competitor is doing a similar thing at the same time. Gotta wait till 2005
Really? (Score:2)
Wonder why they didn't try this 5 years ago.
cancel (Score:2)
its just AOL (Score:3, Insightful)
Just give me IE. I guarantee the first two pages I'll visit are mozilla.org and opera.com. Then, no more IE. No crapware for me!
Meh (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Meh (Score:3, Insightful)
I love how people loathe Microsoft and use something Netscape because they think IE is tied to a corporate monster. Well, I'd take Microsoft any day of the week over Time Warner + AOL. Holy shit. The greatest evil in our democracy is media consolidation like this. Netscape is a tool for cross-marketing. It's hardest the "Truist" browser for the enthusiast that it used to be.
I'm more than happy on Safari anyway. Fantastic browser and, honestly, I feel like it's faster t
Right idea. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Right idea. (Score:5, Insightful)
Or, rather, it's Mozilla. (which I personally prefer strongly over Firefox anyway).
A lot of the tweaks and configs for Mozilla can be manually patched into Netscape, even if not in the Netscape 'options' menu. Actually, it's one step toward Mozilla/Firefox to get users onto Netscape. And a Netscape friendly Web is by design an identically friendly Firefox friendly web.
Think about it.
Re:Right idea. (Score:3, Informative)
Will someone please explain (Score:2, Interesting)
why Netscape? Bundling Firefox or Opera I might understand, but I dont have a clue why they would bundle Netscape. What advantages does Netscape have?
Oh, my emachine that I bought several years ago came with Netscape, so HP is not the first to do this.
Re:Will someone please explain (Score:3, Insightful)
smart move (Score:5, Informative)
No, but.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Lynx (Score:2)
Sweet (Score:2)
--
the best Firefox extensions! [arpx.net]
Why Netscape? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Why Netscape? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's far more likely that Netscape/AOL came to HP and offered them a ton of cash to include their browser. Why would they do that you ask? Again, just another guess, but my money says that it's AOL's way of getting their portal and search on a large portion of the PCs out there.
Re:Why Netscape? (Score:4, Insightful)
Now if their all in one wireless printer/scanners didn't require 380-700mb of software/drivers (And no I'm not kidding...).
Changing perceptions of the internet... (Score:2, Insightful)
Very interesting (Score:2)
Good decision (Score:2, Insightful)
Middleman (Score:3, Funny)
Don't worry! (Score:3, Funny)
Default option (Score:2)
What would be selected by default? Many users will just go with the default...
Slow news day on /. (Score:2)
Of course, I'll get modded down as flamebait by the fascist moderators, but that's life and my karma can handle it. If you can't laugh at my post at least laugh at my sig...
Microsoft (Score:2)
About Mozilla (Score:2, Insightful)
from The Book of Mozilla, 7:15
Netscape still exists? (Score:2)
Re:Netscape still exists? (Score:2)
From my personal experience.. and it is only mine.. Firefox sucks. I have not seen anything crash and burn like that thing did for me. I've tried it on 3 different machines and it sucked shit every time.
I put Netscape 7.2 on all my clients machines and it works. They have their integrated email client, pop-up blocking, and better security.
Why does firefox die so horribly for me? Is it because I won't use Xtra Problems as an os? Netscape 7
Re:Netscape still exists? (Score:3, Informative)
Hurrah. (Score:2)
Where's my default banner-blockers? Thats right, that takes away money from web sites.
Where's sane web-surfing rules already loaded in? Cause they dont care if you get hit by the next crapware-of-the-week.
Where's a cornucopia of tools and plugins to modify (dare I say improve) Netscape? Oh yeah. AOL instant messenger.
No thank you.
Nice but so what? (Score:3, Interesting)
Look, mom! Mom! Mom! Look!! Mom! Look!! Look, mom! (Score:2, Insightful)
H-Paq is a company on its way down.
Netscape lost the war and continues to lose market share even to its own offspring.
Sounds to me like they're scraping the bottom of the barrel for any press coverage they can drum up. Cuz god knows you can't download and install it yourself. And the OS doesn't have its own default-browser setting menus. Oh wait, you can. And it does.
Why the option? (Score:2)
Netscape 8 rendering engine (Score:2)
7 years too late (Score:2)
I can't even understand why the Netscape name is still alive after all this time, it has gone through constant failures until the point where I don't even associate anything good about the name anymore.
I can't even see what good this deal does AOL, and it sounds like they payed a huge pile of dollars for a deal like this.
OH Great (Score:2)
Re:OH Great (Score:2)
Oh well, I'm sure there's other things I'd take out, but I can't remember them at the moment.
A quick question for those in the know. (Score:2)
whiskey.... tango.... foxtrot.... (Score:5, Interesting)
I used netscape back during the 4.0 days, when it was the best browser available for Linux. Even then, I hated it.
Now, there are SOOO many better browsers. Frankly, IE with active X disabled is better than netscape. Firefox beats them both. For Linux, there's konqueror (and firefox as well). I use a combination of Firefox/Camino/Safari under OS X. There is not ONE scenario under which I would use Netscape.
Why wouldn't they do a bundle with Firefox? Or Opera, now that it's 100% free.
Netscape's time has come and gone. There are much better IE alternatives available now.
Then again, HP is not exactly on the leading edge of tech anymore. Some would say they haven't been for quite some time... wasn't there a
That being said, I am happy to see anything that detracts from IE marketshare. Not because I hate MS (although I do to a degree), but only because I think that competition forces innovation. Look at how things were in the 90s when IE and Netscape were battling it out, we saw all kind of changes in the browser software. Hopefully we'll see something that like occur again.
Only time will tell.
In related news... (Score:2)
Seriously though... it will be interesting to see how and if Redmond responds.
Ummm why not FireFox? (Score:2)
HP getting pretty Anti-MS? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:HP getting pretty Anti-MS? (Score:2)
HP doesn't seem to have the vendor lock-in with Intel either, they sell Opteron and Athlon based computers.
Interesting (Score:2)
Open Office (Score:2)
This is great news but..... (Score:2)
HP + ? = oy. (Score:2)
Jeebus. Just bring back the calculators and VMS, already.
Uhh... (Score:2)
Why this sucks and why it's good (Score:2)
Triton lives on as a rendering engine for Netscape... still vulnerable, and if your parents get one of these new HPs, you might still have to do the ad-aware ritual on Thanksgiving.
Good news:
IE's marketshare drops again. More sites will feel pressure to accept non-IE browsers (making it easier for your family to use non-IE browsers for all tasks). Microsoft feels pressure to make IE7 better, and Steve Ballamer destroys another chair
Once you're dead, you stay dead. (Score:2)
Thank God they changed it from AOL Time/Warner.
Speaking of Netscape, it's been out of the game so long is it even worth using anymore? If by using netscape will users be targeted for AOL spyware/ads? Is Netscape even secure and/or modern in 2005/2006?
Neat (Score:2)
Off topic: I was siting behind someone with a slick new laptop today running Windows X
It's Netscape 8 -- Not SeaMonkey (Score:5, Interesting)
Keep this in mind. This is Netscape 8, possibly the ugliest browser out there. It uses Firefox's rendering engine (Gecko), but also has the ability to use IE's rendering engine if needed.
FTA:
Netscape 8 is based on Firefox, but lets users switch between both the Firefox and IE browser engines.
So now IE is still kind of the default browser -- when the site doesn't render properly, they will just switch the rendering engine to IE and go on like normal. It resolves nothing, as websites are not encouraged to fix their bugs.
Links:
Netscape Browser 8 [netscape.com]
Screenshot of Netscape Browser 8 [wikipedia.org] -- The goggles! They do nothing!
Details on Netscape 8 UI Flaws [blakeross.com]
Could have been a good thing (Score:2)
At least more people will be using the Gecko engine, which should help fight the standards black-hole that is IE.
There's a Netscape Browser? (Score:4, Funny)
Just in time... (Score:3, Funny)
Netscape? (Score:2, Funny)
not firefox? (Score:2)
from the article:
A toughie (Score:2)
btw in system setup how many people these days are even going to pick Netscape over IE as their default browser? There is a whole generation of Net users out there never even used or heard
Netscape + AOL Crap? (Score:2)
Plus I'm sure AOL is installed, which means AIM will be installed, and I don't even want to guess what else is installed by default as well.
It is cool that Netscape is installed with the PC and your given the option to have it as your default browser. I am not a mozilla fan, but that would have been the better choice, unless there is something planned for this
Re:Netscape + AOL Crap? (Score:2)
AOL wants people to try out there software for free and then hope they become customers. AOL comes with a ton of products with 9.0 including Itunes, McAfee anti-virus, spyware protection,etc. My guess is perhaps they are considering adding netscape since Mozilla is progressing nicely.
AOL loves to give out free cd's and software and that is part of their business mo
No comments? (Score:2)
Re:No comments? (Score:2)
Dichotomy (Score:3, Funny)
. . . wait, I hate those jokes.
why not firefox? (Score:2)
So how does this help users, again? (Score:2)
Once again, marketing triumphs over utility.
Comments? (Score:2)
But.. (Score:2)
This is good. But When MS buys a stake in AOL. HP will be back installing IE. I hope that wont happen
Hunh huh (Score:2)
Now if HP went the Open Source way and loaded FF and TBird in it, i'd buy stock in the company and watch it soar.
So sorry.. But Netscape has fallen out of favor with the mainstream.
Great!!! (Score:2)
I know, I know, the IE renderer is just an option, still, this won't really do squat for alternative browsers. Now, if this was Firefox by default, then it'd be a cause for celebration.
Show Me The Money! (Score:2)
There's got to be something more attractive to HP here besides revenue sharing from landing one or two ISP accounts. (That's so 90's)
Did AOL simply fork over the cash? Hmmm, doubt it. Then what?
Netscape security (Score:2)
Why Netscape and not Firefox, and why good. (Score:3, Informative)
Why Netscape? AOL has the clout to make the deal and support Netscape for free. If HP will install it, they must have some support for problems. With Netscape, they can pass the buck to AOL. That and they probably needed the nudge.
As for MS, they just lost re: netscape and antitrust so they aren't going to openly oppose this.
This is very good news as many people simply use the browser that comes with their PC. They may have heard about Netscape and Firefox, but they probably will never download it.
If it's on their PC, they will probably try it and hopefully use it.
Having a non IE browser installed by default with the PC is the best way to increase market share.
Hopefully this will pressure other manufacturers to follow suit.
Ryan
Still hard to imagine. (Score:2)
My God, how far they've fallen. A once proud tech giant, now nothing more than a division of a subsidiary...
Before the harsh criticism (Score:2, Insightful)
Netscape?? (Score:2)
Seriously, vanilla Firefox would have offered them just as much opportunity to customize the L&F to be cluttered with HP branding to the point that it's unusable. That's what they're no doubt planning to do anyway.
Still, it's good news, even if only for the positive PR and the likely resulting reduction in
Sad, sad, SAD! (Score:2)
If AOL offered HP a bunch of money for this, then HP could have saved the same amount on future tech support calls and given users a browser they might have heard of.. something called Firefox.
Never mind that Netscape 8 has an ugly interface and the rendering engine switching is one of the lamest schemes ever to be thought up by an AOL PHB.
For $DEITY's sake AOL, now that you've killed Netscape, let us old school geeks remember it fondly... just let it die. Stop pissing on its grave. Assbags.
HP also installs Sun's Java (Score:4, Interesting)
Great.. (Score:3, Funny)
Out of the pot, in to the fire... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Out of the pot, in to the fire... (Score:3, Informative)
HP going down the tubes a little bit further (Score:3, Interesting)
These guys are going for the crash so bad it hurts.
Re:Why not Firefox? (Score:3, Insightful)
Grammar nazi says... (Score:5, Funny)
SHOULDN'T *HAVE*!!!
Re:Grammar nazi says... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Grammar nazi says... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:To bad it is news. (Score:5, Informative)
Remember, Netscape hoped to own the web. They were the ones who first started introducing non-standard tags and features that only their server technology could serve up to their browser. They were NOT the good guys, just one of the elephants fighting in the commons and stomping on the little guys.
Netscape is faster!! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Firefox needs US Spoofing (Score:2)
Re:I've had issues with Mozilla - firefox is bette (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Using the IE rendering engine? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Firefox? (Score:2)
How much did you pay for your current copy of Firefox? About that much.
Re:Netscape or Firefox (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Default Selection (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:netscape sucks (Score:5, Funny)
That sounds more like marriage than anal rape.