Okay, as many of you know I'm a Sr. Systems/Network Engineer for on of the top 50 Microsoft gold partners. I use IE for all work related stuff, not because I have to, because I need the ActiveX and other things for M$ specific sites I run and manage.

I use Opera 7.2x and Firebird from Mozilla for all of my casual surfing. Firebird is great but requires a lot of massaging and extensions to do all the tricks I would like it to do. Opera is another good browser but not free and to be honest still displays some odd behavior.

I was doing some research the other day and ran across some people talking about Netscape 7.1 and since it had been 5 years since I had ever used it I decided to give it a try. After removing the AOL added stuff I was able to really test drive it. I love it, and I love the way that AIM and ICQ are integrated. Is there a reason that I rarely hear anyone mention Netscape 7.1 while talking about Opera and Mozilla. Don't they share a lot of code? Is there anything that I should be leary of? I run ad-Aware all the time and it hasn't added anything that I wasn't aware of.

So, thoughts? Opinions?

I prefer mozilla for when I do any non-IE surfing/code checking. I'm just not interested in the extra code netscape adds, especially aim and icq, I can't get any work done as it is without making it easier for people to send me something

As well, Netscape is usually based on older code, firebird having the latest bugfixes and features

usually netscape is an old version of mozilla plus a bazillion AOL stuff added over it usually people will simply use moz as it is a "cleaner" surfing experience

To be exact, Netscape 7.1 is just Mozilla 1.4...

I use Avant browser...it's free...and uses a lot of IE stuff...but with more features...

IE at work. Safari at home, except for certain sites that don't like Safari, then Camino.

Recently have been playing a little with Palm Web Pro now that I've been able to get my T3 to connect to my mac via BT.

Avant browser is just a shell for IE so it has all of it's shortcomings that I'm trying to avoid. It also has issues with plug ins when multiple tabs are open. Microsoft always has a version of it on CorpNet but I gave up on it. I'm back to Firebird since it is the newest and I have finally got the tabs working the way I want. It gets picky with some of the extensions.

I would love to see IE v7 released with no ActiveX and less of the crap that people are exploiting. I love the dynamic content that IE allows but I hate the exploits and locking the browser down just cripples it compared to what Firebird can do. *sigh*

I use IE sometimes, only when I have too use it. Most of the time Opera 7.2, I am so used to Opera 7.2, that I dislike IE now. Shhhhhh, since I am running Windows XP.. Whoops, that cats out of the bag now.

Byeeeee I hear the IE police outside, hidding.... To be continued, maybe..

I use Mozilla primarily now, there are still some sites that i cna't go to with it, but then i use ie for the moment...

I'm guessing that NS 7.1 will be the last Netscape browser (what with AOL axing their Mozilla support) - probably best to stick to Mozilla [Firebird], I only use Netscape in College now.

[OT Edit - thinnk I ought to change my sig yet? It is almost two years old ]

To quote Charles (just before his blog, along with its archives, mysteriously disappeared):

And I couldn't agree any more.

I used Netscape 6 for a few short months when I was releasing the second version of my site a while ago, just to check cross-browser compatibility issues and whatnot (my site logs showed that 30% of my visitors used NS, and I couldn't afford to lose them again). And I hated every second of it, but I needed to make sure my site looked, and worked, fine with it. It's like being stuck on a roundabout. You want to get on to see what it's like, it starts spinning, and then you can't get off it because it's spinning too fast... Or something. I'm not great at analogies.

Oh, and if you're reading this, Charles: Why did you stop updating your blog? I really enjoyed reading it...

Ditto... I've been using NS off and on for years, hence why i'm so comfortable with mozilla... And i can tell you this, love love love it...

I've recently been using Moz 1.6 for most everything. I have a bookmark with my usual dozen tabs so it loads that and opens all my usual windows. Also, the built in popup blocker really makes minced meat of all those annoyances.

I do have IE 6 handy to test stuff, and to get into the handful of sites that require an insecure browser to enter.

Because all the interesting things I wanted to say were covered by NDA, meaning I really couldn't say anything at all. I might bring it back as a collection of links or something.

Yeah, but you don't realise how much those comments about condom commericals during Star Trek and pathetic firework finales meant to all your dedicated fans...

Er, yeah.

Anyway, to stay on topic, I forgot to mention which browsers I do use, rather than the ones I don't. Firebird is the default on all the computers I use (except for my laptop, which just doesn't have the RAM to take it - Unfortunately I'm lumbered with IE6 on that one). The only time I ever use IE6 is to test sites I'm making, as I do with NS... That URL exploit that was posted on /. turned me off IE for life though.