Netscape 6: Faster to Use, Too Slow to Market?

In a world dominated by Microsoft Internet Explorer (which commands a market share of around 80 percent), the final release of Netscape 6 raises the question--is it too little too late?

The new Netscape's faster Gecko engine accelerates the task of loading individual pages, and the user interface looks much more contemporary than version 5 did.

On the other hand, opening the browser itself took 15 seconds (versus Internet Explorer's 5 to 6 seconds) on my PC. And reports of bugs abound: At press time, Netscape was struggling to fix one glitch that prevented its browser from properly displaying Shockwave images on Web pages.

The interface now features a left pane called My Sidebar, which lists such options (or Tabs) as Search, News, and Stocks. Depending on the size of your screen, you can select from among hundreds of other tabs that are available from Netscape's site.

The URL box doubles as a bona fide search tool using the Google search engine, and a drop-down menu on the left lets you narrow your search to specific categories by using keywords. For example, typing 'Quote AMZN' quickly generated an up-to-the-minute status report for Amazon.com.

Whether you have a POP3 or IMAP mail account, Web-based e-mail, or AOL, the mail client lets you collect all of your e-mail in one place and sort it into multiple in-boxes. Netscape 6's other new features include the PC-to-phone utility Net2Phone, a cookie-management tool, and a password manager that stores all passwords in case you forget them (the password manager itself is password-protected).

While the browser is more attractive than its predecessors, the interface would benefit from additional tweaking. The Home button has been relegated to the secondary "personal toolbar" and disappears if you disable that toolbar. Netscape 6 runs on Windows 95 or later, on Mac OS 8.5 or later, and on several Linux distributions. On PCs, it requires 64MB of RAM and at least a Pentium-133 CPU.

I liked the speed at which pages loaded, but I hated the time it took to fire up the browser. Overall, there's too little beef in this version to coax me to jump ship from my current browser.

SUMMARY

Netscape 6 PRO: Fast page loading; supports all current Web standards. CON: Browser opens slowly; limited customization options. VALUE: You probably should make do with your current browser. Free Netscape Communications 650/254-1900 www.netscape.com