Netscape.com Loses Its Identity 148
wh0pper writes "Digital Trends has a great opinion piece about how Netscape has lost its identity again in regards to their wanna-be Digg portal. One interesting fact I was not aware of is that Jason Calacanis is the person behind the new beta Netscape portal. A choice quote: 'If this business model sees the light-day and it looks like it will, Netscape readers will change from the baby-boomers of yester-year to a younger audience more interested in Jessica Alba's Bikini or Britney Spears than real intellectual news.' I've tried using the new beta Netscape site, and personally hate it. The little link to the external site and the frame to keep you on Netscape's site are deal killers for me. Does the general audience think it can compete?"
Net-who? (Score:5, Interesting)
They seem to have bought the company mainly to use the browser as a bargaining chip against Microsoft ("We'll switch to Mozilla if you don't give us a good deal!"). Since they secured the new deal for the IE engine and jettisoned the browser development staff they've abandoned Netscape-the-browser at least twice, both times changing their minds. There was the surprise release of (IIRC) Netscape 7.2, which as near as I can tell involved merging the latest Mozilla Suite with their local tree, and then there was the outsourced chimera of Netscape 8.
They aren't interested in Netscape the browser, but they have this brand name that they don't want to waste, and they keep trying to come up with something to do with it. They tried it as a classic portal, they tried it as a low-cost dialup service, they tried it as a webmail service, they tried it as a toolbar, now they're chasing another trend, trying to jam the square peg into yet another shaped hole.
It makes about as much sense as it would make for, say, Coca-Cola to buy Dr. Pepper, then retire the soft drink flavor and start marketing Dr. Pepper spice racks.
(Oh, and Britney Spears -- does the youth audience still care about her, or is she already passe?)
Not A Chance (Score:5, Interesting)
It will gain *some* traction. They're going to throw enough money behind it to get people checking it out. And of those who do, a small percent might actually use it. But they're not doing it better than their competitors. It's not really innovative. It's just a "me too" (a phrase I'll forever associate with AOL and its users) site.
Calacanis being behind it probably gives it less cred with me than if they'd hired away Cmdr. Taco or one of the Digg or Fark founders to do it. Calacanis is a suit in sheep's clothing, and nothing good comes of suits.
- G
The link (Score:5, Interesting)
I agree about the frame. It's huge.
And the comments are about as high quality as Digg.
The first comment, in the first story (about hooters), is:
It's all about the Wii.
I think that sums it up.
Many Netscape users have become Firefox users (Score:2, Interesting)
In my own experience, two years ago I have been a Netscape user and in fact, remember version 1.0 with the "beating N" and even version 0.94 beta at work on a Sun Solaris machine. I made the switch to Firefox at the time and one item that got me to switch was the built-in pop-up blocker. A big item in my book especially with the in your face obnoxious marketing.
I remember a few years back when AOL bought out Netscape, in my opinion, that was the start of Netscape going downhill especially all the extra crap such as inserting their crap into your bookmarks with useless links. Even if you remove it, it was placed back in there the next time you run it.
I plan on staying with Firefox for now. I am looking at the new "SeaMonkey".
Framing third-party sites is bad (n)etiquette (Score:3, Interesting)
I thought that went out with the 90s, at least as far as the reputable portals go. It's rare that I agree with any actions perpetrated by Fox News, but I see they have the sense to include a "frame-buster" script on their site (as I do on all of mine), so clicking on the Netscape link led to the site I was expecting to see, not Netscape's "hijacked" version.
Oh, and having linked sites pop up in new windows is annoying too.
Censorship (Score:4, Interesting)