Netscape Communicator and Netscape 4.0

This is not a review, this is a Netscapte Press Release. A review will be posted as soon as one becomes available. MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (October 15, 1996) -- Netscape Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: NSCP) today announced Netscape Communicator, the integrated client software product that users need every day to communicate, share data and access information on Intranets and the Internet. Netscape Communicator is an integrated product for open email, groupware, editing, calendaring and Web browsing on Intranets and the Internet. The new product builds on and includes Netscape's award-winning Netscape Navigator software and reaffirms Netscape's position as a technology leader in the Internet and Intranet market. Netscape Communicator integrates in one product five powerful components that work together seamlessly: Netscape Navigator 4.0 browser software, Netscape Composer HTML authoring software, Netscape Messenger electronic mail, Netscape Collabra group discussion software, and Netscape Conference real-time collaboration software. For corporate users on an Intranet, Netscape also announced Netscape Communicator Professional Edition, which adds Netscape Calendar scheduling software and Netscape AutoAdmin for centralized user management by MIS professionals. "Netscape Communicator and Netscape SuiteSpot provide an open email and groupware solution that lets users work smarter and communicate efficiently with a broad range of people across organizational and geographic boundaries," said Bob Lisbonne, vice president of client product marketing at Netscape. "Through the familiar point-and-click user interface made popular by Netscape Navigator, Netscape Communicator makes it easy to create and publish rich documents, find people online and share information." Netscape Communicator comes with the recently unveiled Netscape Inbox Direct service. Inbox Direct is an innovative new content delivery service that harnesses the rich-text messaging capabilities of Netscape Messenger to deliver messages with all the richness of the Web - right to users email box every morning at no cost. More than 40 companies are now providing content to Netscape Inbox Direct subscribers, driving subscriptions to over 500,000 in less than two weeks of availability. The 40 companies include Axel Springer Verlag, CMP Media, The Daily Telegraph, The Gartner Group, Inc., The HotWired Network, The New York Times, Times Mirror Magazines (Sporting News, Ski Magazine, Skiing Magazine, Golf Magazine, Yachting), US News and World Report and Ziff-Davis' ZD Net AnchorDesk. Netscape Inbox Direct takes full advantage of Netscape's rich Web-based mail, which is now used on more than 11 million computers. Netscape Communicator lets users get right to work creating, accessing and sharing information from within one easy-to-use software program. The new product is based on the familiar, intuitive user interface of Netscape Navigator, the world's most popular software application with an installed base of more than 45 million computers. With support for seventeen operating environments and compliance with standard Internet industry protocols, Netscape Communicator ensures that the information users create is accessible to anyone with the appropriate permissions on the Internet or Intranet. Netscape Communicator Standard Edition includes the following five applications: Netscape Navigator 4.0, the latest version of the world's leading Web browser from Netscape, recently voted Editors' Choice by PC Magazine, a leading industry trade publication. New features in version 4.0 include support for absolute positioning layering and style sheets new HTML fonts for authoring support for Netscape ONE, the open network environment. Netscape Messenger, an open standards-based email client with support for sending and receiving HTML messages with the full richness of the Web. Features enable users to receive interactive Web content directly in their inbox; look up email addresses in the corporate directory or on the Internet with LDAP-compliant addressing; work offline when on the road; filter, sort and organize incoming messages into folders; and encrypt and digitally sign messages. Netscape Collabra, open standards-based group discussion software. New features include easy access to public or private discussion forums; HTML editing tools to create and post Web documents to discussion groups; search tools that locate information on multiple forums; and off-line message reading and posting capabilities for mobile users. Netscape Composer, an easy-to-use WYSIWYG HTML editing tool for creating and publishing richly formatted documents. Features include one-button publishing of documents to a designated server; drag and drop of images, links and Java applets onto a Web page; an easy-to-use Page Wizard and page templates to automate page creation; a built-in spell-checker; and user authentication for publishing. Netscape Conference, real-time collaboration software that lets users simultaneously share information and talk to co-workers on the Internet. Features include audio-conferencing based on powerful compression technology; shared whiteboard, chat and file transfer capabilities; voicemail capability; and the ability to dial Internet phone numbers by email or IP address. In addition to the applications in the Standard Edition, Netscape Communicator Professional Edition includes: Netscape Calendar, an Intranet-based scheduling solution for enterprise users. Features include enterprise calendaring and scheduling; email notifications; free-time search across local and remote servers; support for the Versit Consortium's vCalendar proposed Internet standard enabling users to share calendaring data and schedule meetings across the corporate Intranet and the public Internet. Netscape AutoAdmin, an application for centralized user management by MIS professionals. AutoAdmin allows network administrators to manage and configure Netscape Communicator Professional Edition centrally. Administrators can automatically download, install, configure and upgrade Netscape Communicator components and Plug-ins on users' desktops and restrict downloadable components to authorized users. Netscape Communicator also tightly integrates with the open email and groupware servers in Netscape SuiteSpot integrated server software suite, providing a complete family of Intranet technology from the front desk to the back office. Together, the Netscape family of client and server software delivers a cost-effective and complete solution for building and using a Full Service Intranet. Netscape Communicator is scheduled for availability by the first quarter of 1997 on 17 platforms including Microsoft Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT 3.51 and 4.0, Apple MacOS and popular UNIX operating environments. Pricing is planned to be US$49 for Netscape Communicator Standard Edition and US$79 for Netscape Communicator Professional Edition. Users of Netscape Navigator 3.0 who have purchased a subscription receive an upgrade to Netscape Communicator at no charge. Netscape plans to support the following languages initially: Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish. Availability of specific languages to be determined.