Technology Differences between Firefox, Netscape, and Mozilla?

[Stroganoff]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I'm a big fan of Firefox and only use IE if I have to.

So, what are the differences between the three browsers? Aren't they all by the same company, Mozilla?

 

[subtle1epiphany]

Okay, here's the best explanation I can give:

Netscape doesn't exist as a company. When it lost the infamous "Browser Wars" it was purchased by AOL and then essentially raped. AOL basically stuck with an Internet Explorer core for their software, but tied their Instant Messenger application with Netscape. Mozilla was definitely based off of the Netscape core and GUI (not sure if they have rights to the Netscape's intellectual property), but I'm not sure how much was incorporated into their software package. Mozilla has been developing their open-source browser/email/web-page authoring software for years now, but only recently has it recieved the recognition it deserves. My ex-fiance, who did some serious web-design on the side while we were in college, insisted on using only Mozilla (and Flash) when coding, it resulted in cleaner code.
A year ago (approx.) Mozilla took their browser portion of the application, redesigned the UI, and incorporated an incredible feature set (RSS, transparent PNG, tabbed browser...etc.), and re-badged it as Firefox. They then followed suit with their email portion, thus Thunderbird was born.
Don't see this as me putting their efforts down as pure marketing, because their software packages are truly impressive. I use Firefox as my browser and Thunderbird for all my IMAP and POP accounts (I have some hotmail accounts that require Outlook Express, unfortunately), their software is a joy to use and is not only intuitive, but clean and unobtrusive. The increasing popularity of the browser has prompted Microsoft to reconvene their IE development group and they've already put out IE 7.0 beta. This is after Gates publicly announced IE had acheived perfection and would not enjoy any further development or updates (aside from plugging various security holes, of course). Pretty much the only downside is the amount of resources their software requires. It isn't the leanest software out there.
I'd recommend that you at least try Firefox and Thunderbird. The Mozilla package is also a good bet if you want web-browser/email/newsgroup/web-design all together.

Hope that helps.


p.s. Love the avatar! Gotta love "The Todd"!
Patient: Doctor I'm getting tired of the sexual innuendos
Todd: <pause> In your end-o.

 

[Sessamoid]

"Mozilla" is the name of the whole open-source browser/email/kitchen sink project that started out at Netscape since way back when. That's always been the internal project name at Netscape, and it continued to be after AOL bought them. Nowadays, the term "Mozilla" often refers to the monolithic suite of browser/email/IRC/kitchen sink as one big application. The Mozilla Foundation was spun off of AOL as an independent entity which manages the production of the Firefox browser, the Thunderbird email client, and the other Mozilla applications. The Mozilla Corporation recent was started to handle the public relations and promotion of the products.

"Firefox" (prev. known as Firebird, Phoenix, etc.) was the separation of the browser part of the Mozilla project into a separate browser. IIRC it didn't start as an official Mozilla release, but was incorporated into Mozilla after it grew in popularity.

"Netscape" as a company no longer exists, but remains the trademark of AOL, which I think still produces a version of the Mozilla suite/browser by that name. It is basically the same code as the Mozilla open-source projects with some added commercial crap (e.g. AOL Instant Messenger, etc.) to promote their other properties.