Why Choose Netscape Navigator?

In the last chapter, this section indicated that one of the reasons to pick Internet Explorer was that it was from Microsoft. That means it's backed by the largest software company in the world, and that carries with it a certain degree of clout.

So, why choose Navigator? Well, that's a funny one. Navigator has just as many features as Explorer. The two programs mirror each other in a number of ways, with similar features that are called by different names .

To be frank, one reason that some people choose to go with Navigator is that Explorer is produced by Microsoft. There is a sizable faction out there that believes that Bill Gates and his boys have gotten a little too big for their britches (the U.S. government included), and that using Navigator, in some way, helps prevent Microsoft's stronghold on the consumer software industry.

But there are much better reasons to pick Navigator than that. Like Explorer, Navigator has added features that make it more customizable for the user. In fact, Netscape has gone a step farther than Microsoft in allowing users to set up user profiles, so that different people using Navigator on the same computer can automatically view the browser the way they want to, without having to reset a bunch of preferences.

In the rest of this chapter, you will learn about many of Navigator's options and features.