Download Netscape Navigator 9.0 RC1

Netscape has announced that the first release candidate of Netscape 9.0 is available immediately. The browser can start from this page be downloaded for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. The developers of Netscape used Firefox 2 as the basis for the development of Navigator 9 and, unlike the 7 series, stripped it of an email client, newsgroup reader and HTML composer. As a result, the web browser is no longer an internet suite, but a stand-alone browser. What changes have been made to Netscape Navigator 9.0 RC1 are posted below:

Due to Netscape.com’s transition from a social news site to a traditional news portal (and the resulting re-launch of the social news site at Propeller.com), we made the decision to remove the built-in social news functionality from the Netscape Navigator Web browser. We will be releasing those features as stand-alone Propeller-branded browser extensions shortly, and our browser development efforts will be refocused on providing new features and browsing enhancements not specifically tied to a single Web service.

The following changes have been made since Beta 3:

• Added splash screen
• Fixed formatting bug in Mac license
• Fixed a bug that was preventing custom background colors
• Mini browser enhancements
• Removed social news integration
• Exposed more preferences in the Preference Dialog for tabs and the mini-browser
• Fixed reversed preference for opening searches in new tab
• Fixed Mac bundle signature
• Fixed default icon and file associations
• Moved custom FTP style out of userContent.css
• Added URL correction preferences to Advanced Preferences page
• Added drop-down menu to print button
• Added drop-down menu to home button
• Added Firefox profile import
• Added support for importing Netscape 8 bookmarks after the initial install
• Fixed theme issues on Linux
• Fixed truncation or Reload button label
• Fixed bugs with URL correction and country codes
• Added “Save to Linkpad” option to History context menu

[break]