America Online, the owner of the Netscape browser, has announced a deal with Hewlett-Packard according to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). Starting early next year, all new HP and Compaq brand PCs will come preinstalled with Netscape.
Netscape 8.0 is the latest version of the browser and is based on the
Firefox browser, which boasts much higher security. When setting up a
new HP for the first time, computer users will be asked if they would
like Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or Netscape as their default browser.
For an introduction to Internet browsers please click here, though Netscape is not mentioned in the article as it is fairly similar to Firefox. However, one key advantage in using Netscape is that the browser automatically switches to Internet Explorer if a site is determined “safe” and if the content is designed only for viewing within Internet Explorer. Though at this point most websites are not browser dependent, it is reassuring to any computer user to know that a particular browser will find a way to load the page even if it means switching over to the competition.
Netscape will also block access to thousands of sites suspected to have affiliations with phishing, viruses, and/or spyware.
