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No it isn't dead, in fact Netscape has just released a beta version of Navigator 9, which is essentially a branded remake of Firefox 2 with a couple nice extra features that add some social aspects to the default version of Firefox 2.
While I know Netscape Navigator has been using Firefox as its backbone for some time, I'll confess that I haven't really used it since version 4.7 (oh, those were the days). That said, the new version is really nice and the additional features are great, particularly if you're a fan of Netscape's Digg-clone news site.
[Netscape Navigator 9][1] features a host of new stuff including a visual makeover as well as new features like automatic URL correction, several new sidebar options, including a really nice one dubbed "Linkpad." There's also a bunch of social web style features including in-browser voting (for sites listed on netscape.com).
Netscape Navigator 9 also [features][2] full compatibility with Firefox 2 extensions. Themes on the other hand must be built specifically for Navigator 9.
The sharing aspects of the new navigator feature some interesting additions to the URL bar, including a link to submit the site to Netscape.com if no one has yet, and, in cases where the URL is already submitted, voting buttons are included.
There's also a new sidebar option dubbed the "Friends' Activity Sidebar" which lets you track what your Netscape.com contacts have marked. The Activity sidebar will show your friends' votes, comments they've written, and story submissions.
The standout among the new features is Linkpad, a sort of temporary storage mechanism for pages you want to investigate later, but don't necessarily want to bookmark. Linkpad lives in the sidebar and pages can be added by dragging the URL (or tab) and dropping it in the sidebar.
Linkpad will remember your temporary bookmarks between sessions and when you click a saved link it will automatically be removed from the linkpad. Netscape touts that last feature as saving you hassle of deleting the link from Linkpad, but frankly there should be an option to control that behavior in the preferences.
Another sidebar addition is the News Tracker which adds Netscape.com news headlines to your sidebar (via RSS).
Finally, perhaps it's a personal tick, but I was excited to see that Netscape has combined the stop and reload buttons, which is one of those UI decisions that just makes sense, but for some reason requires an extension in Firefox. The fact is, you never need both buttons at the same time, why waste the space?
Since it now has full compatibility with Firefox 2 (I should note that of the half dozen extensions I tested, one, CookieSafe did not work -- YMMV), fans of Netscape.com can have their cake and eat it too.
As someone who doesn't actually use Netscape.com, the sharing features are of limited use, but Linkpad is a particularly nice feature I'd love to hear if anyone knows of a Firefox extension that does something similar.
Current users should note that the auto-update feature of Netscape 8 will not upgrade them to version 9 (presumably because it's still a beta). To get the latest version [head over to the download site][3].
[1]: http://browser.netscape.com/ "Netscape Navigator"
[2]: http://browser.netscape.com/releasenotes/ "What’s New in Netscape Navigator 9"
[3]: http://browser.netscape.com/downloads/ "Download Netscape Navigator 9"
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