I'm test running Netscape 7 compared to IE 6. It doesn't look bad so far. There are a few CSS tags that it's not supporting and JavaScript is FUBAR. This disappoints me, but it's a huge step since Netscape 4x. However, until Netscape surpasses or equals IE in a unified support of HTML, XML, and CSS, it's just not going to be my default browser. But lets look at some of the other features.

The first test was how quick Netscape loads. The answer is not very quick at all the first time, and after the first time, it takes 2 to 5 seconds. This is compared to IE's nearly instant popup. IE wins on load time.

Netscape 7 comes with tabbing enabled that allows you to browse several pages inside the same Netscape window. Like a windows start menu, all the windows are tiled from the left, which is a good idea. Pretty handy in fact. All windows run inside the single Netscape EXE (Netscp.exe). This EXE is taking over 25 Megs of RAM on my system to run. This blew me away at first. But then I ran a test with IE. I opened 3 copies of IE, and surfed to the 3 pages I have loaded into Netscape. These 3 copies took a combined 30 MB of RAM. 5 MB isn't a real difference, so I tried a 4th window. Netscape jumped up to nearly 30 megs, and IE jumped up to nearly 40. I tried a 5th window, and IE jumped to over 50 Megs, while Netscape stayed well below 30. It looks like as far as RAM usage goes, Netscape 7 wins this round.

I also now have a taskbar with one Netscape tile, and 4 IE tiles. IE likes to clutter. What makes the tabs in Netscape good is the fact that you don't have to use them if you don't want to. You can use the old style if you wish. Netscape wins again.

I tested load times as well. On an average, Netscape loads http://www.starwars.com/ quicker than IE. On an average, IE loads http://www.jediknightii.net/ quicker than Netscape. On an average, IE loads http://www.weblogs.net/ quicker than Netscape. These are just a few of the pages I view. I'd say IE still loads pages quicker on average. So IE wins this one.

I got bored with tests though, so I'll just tell you what I think of Netscape 7. While it has new features, and a sleek new look, and the web support is better, there isn't any reason in my mind to use Netscape instead of IE. If you're tight for RAM, I'm sure an older version if IE will work great. If you think IE sucks just because it's a MS product, well, grow up. The support for Netscape 7 is much like IE 4, and that's a shame. I use IE for browsing, and any other feature goes to the way side. It would be the same with Netscape. Oh well. Better luck next try I feel.