Internet Explorer 5.0 & Communicator 4.5

Internet Explorer 5.0

The downloading process for Internet Explorer has changed. As we all know, Microsoft's raison d'être (and some would say their tragic flaw) is making things easy for novice users. Instead of the old drill of download, unzip and install, a doohickey called "Active Setup" theoretically does it all in one go, checking your system to see what you have, downloading and installing. When you restart the computer, a new icon leads to an Internet Connection Wizard, which walks you through the steps of setting up a new account, getting connected, etc. Those of us who already have our Internet scene together thank you, will simply hit Cancel.

Various new features make Web surfing a little easier for Explorer users. When you save a Web page to your hard disk, IE now saves the graphic files too, not just the HTML page. Also, a nifty new search feature allows you to search several search engines of your choice, without having to re-enter your search phrase each time.

The new and improved autocomplete feature is handy. This works just as it does on the address bar, but it now works for online forms. The browser remembers previous entries you've made for such things as user logins to various sites, and when you start to type, it fills in your password and user name (or anything you enter into a form).

Communicator 4.5

As with Explorer, the latest version of Netscape's browser includes various incremental improvements, but nothing revolutionary. It's a little more stable, a little easier to use, and a little more cluttered with features. One handy, if controversial, new feature is Smart Browsing.

Smart Browsing is actually two features: Keyword search and "What's Related." The keyword search feature means that instead of typing an URL into the location field, you can type in the title of a Web site, or one or more keywords. If Netscape recognizes the name of the Web site, it will take you there directly. If not, it will take you to the Netcenter search engine and do the best it can. This works no better or worse than a search engine usually does. If I type in "Web Developer's Virtual Library," I get a page of search results, and lo and behold! The Web Developer's Virtual Library is there, albeit near the bottom of the page. Of course, if I wanted to go to the WDVL, I wouldn't type in "Web Developer's Virtual Library," but simply "wdvl," and Communicator would take me right there. Explorer will do the same - there's no longer any need to wear your fingers out typing in "http://www" over and over again.

What if you type in a more generic term, like "stock quotes?" Netscape will show you a page with 3 choices. First, a link to their list of "reviewed sites" having to do with stock quotes, next a link to the investing section of their Netcenter "portal," and finally a list of all sites with "stock quotes" in their domain names. Herein lies the controversial aspect of "smart browsing." When you choose to use this feature, you'll often be steered to sites owned by Netscape and their buddies. Smart for Netscape, but not for those who value things like freedom of choice and objective information. Perhaps a better term would be "tethered browsing," or "Netscape-ad-impression-maximizing browsing." Or how about "Give-Mr.-Gates-a-taste-of-his-own-medicine browsing?" Surprisingly, Explorer doesn't work the same way. If you type something into Explorer that it can't resolve into a URL, you get a page of Yahoo search results, with no discernable attempt to steer you into the Microsoft galaxy.

The "What's Related" feature works similarly. If you click on the "What's Related" link at the top right of the browser, a menu pops up with links to sites that Netscape deems to be related to the page you're on. Does "What's Related" really mean "Who's paid?" A paranoid conspiracy theorist like myself can't help reflecting that there are all kinds of sneaky tricks a browser maker might use to stack the deck in favor of its preferred (read "paying") content providers. It's quite possible for them to design a browser that automatically redirects to one of their buddies' sites whenever you type in one of their competitors' URLs. It's a slippery slope Netscape has started down, and the field of customer-manipulation is one in which their competitor, Microsoft, is known to be expert. There's something very fishy going on when a company that's in the business of providing tools to access information is also in the business of providing that information.

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