From: Dan Brickley (Daniel.Brickley@bristol.ac.uk)
Date: Wed Apr 12 2000 - 11:37:05 PDT
This is old bits for xmlhack and mozillazine readers (hey Rohit when do
we get a FoRK RSS channel? ;-), but check out
http://www.mozilla.org/rdf/doc/inference.html and
Mozillation at http://209.198.94.130/mzpl/ for some experiments in
getting various logic/inference stuff bolted onto their RDF APIs. I'm
not a huge prolog fan myself but possibilities are still intriguing...
--danbri
ps. I've had trouble getting the Mozillation download running in
Netscape6PR1 but apparently it does work...
On Wed, 12 Apr 2000, Rohit Khare wrote:
> [RSS panel - nice!]
>
> >On the other side of the browser window, the personalizable My
> >Sidebar tab will give users updated information -- ranging from an
> >integrated buddy list for conducting instant messaging, to stock
> >quotes, calendars, and search results -- without requiring users to
> >continuously check a site. Netscape 6 ships with several My Sidebar
> >sources, including Reuters and when.com, that can be added to a
> >user's My Sidebar and automatically updated.
>
> [SOML rides again! - nice!]
>
> >your buddy list is added to your address book, and if you send an
> >e-mail message to a buddy, it will be apparent in the "to" field,
> >and the sender may choose to select the instant messaging method of
> >communication to avoid an e-mail tag. Even better, your buddy list
> >is saved on the Netscape server, so it is available wherever you log
> >on
>
>
> ===========================================================================
>
> Wednesday, Apr. 5, 2000 10:00 am PT
> Impressive Netscape 6 beta promises widespread appeal
> By Lori Mitchell , InfoWorld Test Center
>
>
>
> BUSINESS CASE
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> If your users spend most of their time reading e-mail while
> maintaining a constant connection to the Internet, you should
> evaluate Netscape's newly designed browser. The new enhancements
> provide a place where users can access multiple information sources
> from one interface, including instant messaging, e-mail, and flagged
> Web sites, thereby eliminating the need to check multiple sites
> frequently or multiple e-mail accounts.
>
> TECHNOLOGY CASE
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Netscape 6 is based on the Netscape Gecko engine to provide a more
> open-standard browser from Web developers. It supports XML, HTML4,
> COM, and CSS. This browser also has increased platform support,
> including Windows, Mac OS, and Linux Web-based appliances.
>
> PROS
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> + Smaller download
> + New interface
> + Manages multiple e-mail accounts
> + More privacy control
> + Additional searching capabilities
> + More browser personalization features
>
> CONS
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> - Not all features available in beta release
>
> COST
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Downloadable, free from Netscape's Web site
>
> PLATFORMS
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Windows, Macintosh, Linux web appliances
>
>
> Few companies question the wisdom of installing Web browsers on
> client machines any more. The primary questions now are which one
> should you deploy and whether or not you should upgrade to the next
> version. When Netscape 6 is released later this year, its bevy of
> impressive user- and developer-friendly new features and revamped
> interface may prompt you to choose Netscape's browser over
> Microsoft's or to upgrade to the latest version.
>
> Netscape 6, which was redesigned based on the Netscape Gecko
> technology, will have a new look and feel. The wildly different
> interface offers several more buttons for accessing bookmarks,
> channels, Net2Phone, chat, and other features, as well as an emphasis
> on keeping users constantly connected both to the Internet and to a
> corporate intranet. The Netscape Gecko browser engine offers features
> that make Netscape 6 easy enough for casual users while offering an
> open-standard approach that will appeal to developers. If you decide
> to move to Netscape 6, your users will find many new and welcome
> enhancements, including personalized tabs, integrated instant
> messaging, and a smaller installation. Developers will appreciate its
> expanded support for Web standards and globalization features.
>
> By the end of last year, 64 percent of corporate users used Microsoft
> Internet Explorer whereas only 36 percent used Netscape Navigator,
> according to a study conducted by Zona Research, a market research
> and strategic consulting company in Redwood City, Calif. I looked at
> a prerelease version of Netscape 6 that is possibly promising enough
> to push this browser back into the limelight, if not just to grab
> back its old market share.
>
>
> The two enhancements which impress me most are the support for Web
> standards -- better than ever before -- and the My Sidebar
> personalized tabs. The open-standard approach enables developers to
> create content once, instead of building different versions for
> different platforms; this will save precious and costly development
> time. On the other side of the browser window, the personalizable My
> Sidebar tab will give users updated information -- ranging from an
> integrated buddy list for conducting instant messaging, to stock
> quotes, calendars, and search results -- without requiring users to
> continuously check a site. Netscape 6 ships with several My Sidebar
> sources, including Reuters and when.com, that can be added to a
> user's My Sidebar and automatically updated. In the future,
> additional sites will be available to add in as well. In addition,
> users can search for content more quickly than in previous versions
> and manage multiple e-mail accounts.
>
>
> Also new to this browser is integrated instant messaging. With
> Netscape 6, your buddy list is added to your address book, and if you
> send an e-mail message to a buddy, it will be apparent in the "to"
> field, and the sender may choose to select the instant messaging
> method of communication to avoid an e-mail tag. Even better, your
> buddy list is saved on the Netscape server, so it is available
> wherever you log on.
>
> The e-mail client also has been improved and can now manage a user's
> multiple e-mail accounts, including America Online, POP3, IMAP, and
> news accounts. I easily set this up with several of my accounts and
> started sending and receiving e-mail via one easy-to-use location. In
> contrast to Microsoft Outlook, Netscape 6 lets users define each
> e-mail account with a separate identity. Messages sent from the
> Outlook client will have the same sender e-mail address, whereas
> Netscape 6 messages sent from your personal account will be different
> from those sent with your business account. When receiving e-mail,
> the sender's name is automatically stored in the address book for a
> quick lookup for future reference.
>
> And for all of us who have multiple accounts on the Internet,
> Netscape 6 provides a password manager to keep track of all the
> different passwords you have accumulated, making it easier to manage
> all of your accounts with different user names and passwords. These
> passwords are also protected, so others cannot see or use them.
>
> I also liked that Netscape 6 provides a cookie manager that lets
> users select what sites to accept cookies from; in previous versions,
> cookies were either on or off. This gives the user or corporation
> more privacy.
>
> I was excited to find impressive new searching capabilities that, for
> example, let me search using keywords from the URL field. Users or
> companies can set what search engine to use to conduct a search
> without going to a search engine site, which will speed up Web
> searches. The default is Netscape, but the function is customizable
> to whatever search engine you prefer. Not all of the search
> capabilities were available with this release, including the
> capability of selecting multiple search engines. But this version's
> search capability does let you go beyond Web sites to search in
> e-mail, bookmarks, and the browser history file, as well as your
> computer.
>
> Netscape 6's support for globalization is a feature sure to appeal to
> users on the road, or to those who need to search international
> sites. Netscape has integrated a translation tool called Alis
> Technologies Gist-In-Time, that automatically converts Web content
> into a preferred language. For example, I could translate any Web
> site displayed in English to Spanish or a site in German to English,
> which is a great feature for globally dispersed corporations.
>
> Developers will appreciate Netscape 6's increased support for Web
> standards. By providing more support and customization capabilities,
> Netscape 6 gives developers more flexibility for building Web pages
> across multiple platforms, including web appliances. For instance
> Netscape 6 supports standards such as HTML 4, CSS (Cascading Style
> Sheets), XML, RDF (Resource Description Framework), and COM. When the
> final version is released, the browser will be customizable by the
> use of "skins," which let companies, individual users, or both
> customize the look of their browsers to fit the needs of their
> company or personality.
>
> And to make your IT staff happy, the smaller, downloadable version of
> Netscape 6 is easier to install (allowing a customized installation)
> and takes up less room on the user's PC. For my test, I installed the
> complete installation. That took up only 8.5MB of disk space.
>
> Heavy Internet users who want the latest in browser functionality
> will want to give Netscape 6 a go. The newly designed browser beta
> release will be available for download on April 5 and will ship later
> this year with many customization features, giving individual users
> and corporations an environment to manage information and
> communication contacts. Corporations will find that this free
> downloadable browser provides a customizable interface for presenting
> their users with the Web-based information they require. Developers
> will welcome the broader open-standard and platform support.
>
>
>
> Senior Analyst Lori Mitchell has been reviewing high-technology
> products for the past eight years. Lori has covered Internet-based
> workgroup, collaboration, and training tools since she joined
> InfoWorld in 1997. She can be reached at lori_mitchell@infoworld.com.
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Apr 12 2000 - 11:39:52 PDT