Oracle PowerBrowser -- Despite cool features like client side processes (similar to Java applets), frames, caching, advanced tables (though not quite as solid as Netscape or Internet Explorer), web server capabilities, support for Java (in the 32-bit release), integrated searching (via Alta Vista, Lycos, or WebCrawler), client side image mapping and similar, Oracle's beta release of its new web browser ultimately fails to impress considering the wares currently available from the competition. The single largest factor for this is an amazing lack of speed -- PowerBrowser is one of the slower browsers on the market, a real surprise considering its abundance of features. Despite a solid selection of features, PowerBrowser still lacks many critical features found in other browsers, including tags like font size and super/subscript; ftp, news, and receive mail support; Netscape 2.0 and Internet Explorer 2.0 tags; pre-configured helper applications; and quite a bit more. If PowerBrowser receives a much needed speed infusion, and beefs up its supply of features, PowerBrowser may someday become a serious competitor to the better web browsers on the market; for now, however, I find it hard to recommend PowerBrowser as a serious alternative for power users. Pros: Client side processes, tables and frames support, other cool features Cons: Slow and lacking in many critical features, especially relative to other web browsers New: Web server, Internet search and Java capabilities; client side image mapping; revised interface Version Reviewed: 1.5 Beta 1 Build 96.05.31 Date of Review: 6/2/96 Reviewer: Forrest Stroud apps conference Main Menu