> The classic skin makes the transition painless.
> The .81 release is almost usable compared to Communicator 4.7x.
> The support for modern HTML in 4.7x is not good, so I am lookiing
> forward to
> to deploying a browser that renders HTML 4.0 and CSS pages well.
>
>> Mozilla will never quite "feel" like the old Netscape
>
> But I can deploy the Mozilla on Macs, Windows, Linux (Intel & PPC), and
> IRIX, all in use at my company.
>
>> The future is forward
>
> The reality is now. As loud as the cry is for a Cocoa/mach-o build,
> if you annoucce no support for older OS's, plug your ears.
The problem is that the vast majority of Mac users have declared
Mozilla/Netscape 6 as dead. Unless someone spends all their time making the
"native" skin feel *exactly* like using Netscape 4.x, people will cry wolf
(or Java, as all non-native feeling apps "must be Java" according to the
myriad of forum posts which appeared after NS6's "debut").
My thought is that from a user's standpoint, unless great care and effort
are expended (at the expense of the future of Mac OS, OS X) to make Mozilla
"feel native" (ie run at "native speeds," have the general look and feel of
every Mac app made since the dawn of time, or at least 1984) people still
won't like it.
Thus I argue that more time/effort/etc be paid to Mac OS X. If Mozilla can
hook people from the start (rather than trying to recapture a dwindeling
faithful) it has a much greater chance of success in the future world of the
Mac than it ever will in the past. Granted, I can't say that (as much as I
would like it to) that all Classic Mac OS support be dropped. However, I
would hate to see the chance of capturing a market hungary for a usable,
stable, great browser ('cause IE, OmniWeb, and iCab don't cut it yet) be put
at risk for the sake of extensive support of a dieing platform.
These are my thoughts on the matter.
-Adam.
