By HIAWATHA BRAY
c.1997 The Boston Globe
 ven though I didn't write a line of the code in Netscape's new
Internet software, I'd like to take a bit of credit for it.
A few months ago, I hailed a superb Internet browser offered by
Netscape's blood enemy, Microsoft, and warned that unless it could
strike back hard and fast, Netscape was in deep trouble. My column
apparently so dismayed the folks at Netscape that they phoned me a
couple of times to argue and defend their Navigator software. I
think I threw a scare into them.
And the folks at Netscape do good work when they're scared. I've
been working with their new Internet suite, and even in its present
buggy and incomplete state this looks like one fine piece of
software.
But don't call it Netscape Navigator. It's Communicator now, a
name change that's more than cosmetic. Netscape has pushed
Navigator into the background, a tacit admission that it can't win
a straight-up ``browser war'' with Microsoft. Instead, it has made
the Navigator browser part of a tightly integrated set of programs
designed for ``intranets,'' or private corporate networks built
around Internet standards. Communicator combines a world-class
browser with excellent new e-mail functions, conferencing features
and solid Web page design tools. It's just about all the software a
corporate user could ever need. Yet it's still simple to use, and
many of its enhanced features will delight even casual Internet
users.
The excellent browser hasn't changed much. But it mimics some of
Microsoft's clever touches, such as toolbars that slide out of the
way. It also introduces a feature that can display graphic images
in layers, to permit three-dimensional effects. And you can now
control just about every browser function from the keyboard,
without reaching for your mouse.
Communicator comes with a Web page design program similar to the
one featured in Netscape Navigator Gold. This is a fine program for
creating quick-and-dirty Web pages, which you can then publish on
the Internet merely by pushing a button.
My favorite improvements are found in Communicator's mail
program. The long-awaited push-button encryption feature isn't here
yet - it's promised for another beta version next month. But there
are some other wonderful new capabilities. For instance, users of
Communicator can send each other electronic mail in true HTML
format. That means each e-mail message can be a fully functional
Web page, complete with images, frames, hyperlinks and Java
applets. Or you can mail an exact working copy of any Web page,
with all of its features intact.
Then there's Communicator's support for LDAP, a powerful
Internet directory protocol. Like most e-mail programs, the one in
Communicator has an address book where you can file away the
addresses of friends and colleagues. But Communicator uses LDAP to
link directly to two of the Internet's biggest address books - the
Four11 and Bigfoot directories, crammed with millions of e-mail
addresses. Thanks to LDAP, you can search these huge directories as
if they were stored on your hard drive.
Say you need to send a message to someone whose address you
don't have. Just switch from your internal address book to Bigfoot
and type the person's name. If the person has a listing there, it
pops up on your screen. Push a button, and the data is recorded in
your personal address book. The whole process generally takes less
than 10 seconds.
Microsoft has just added a similar feature to the mail program
on its Internet Explorer browser. But Netscape's is vastly more
sophisticated. It allows you to search up to five variables at a
time, such as name, street address, company name, phone number or
e-mail address. So you can find the e-mail addresses of people
named Smith who work for IBM (I found 20 of them in the Four11
directory), and then see how many of these are at IBM's Boca Raton
facility (just one).
I also like vCard, a new feature that lets you attach an
electronic business card to your e-mail, including your address,
phone number and company name. If the person receiving the message
is using Netscape Communicator, he or she just clicks on the vCard
data, and all this information is added to the address book.
Communicator will carry the same $49 price as Navigator. Last
year I said Netscape couldn't justify that price when Microsoft
Internet Explorer is free. But judging by the beta version,
Netscape Communicator will be worth every dime.
(You can send electronic mail to Hiawatha Bray at
bray@globe.com .)
NYT-01-03-97 1115EST<
 
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