We released the second beta of Netscape Navigator 9 today. Much praise to Richard for taking the lead on development and the roadmap this round.

AOL News has undergone a redesign to be more "bloggy" (according to Reuters). Part of this update is that now they're featuring the top stories at Netscape.com under the "User Submitted News" in the left-hand sidebar.

I wouldn't mind that section being a little higher up on the page though, maybe replacing any of the nine (yes, nine) links to stories about Paris Hilton being released from prison...

This link to the Navigator 9 download page was submitted to Digg around noon on Tuesday and received 10 diggs over the next 24 hours. A story about a Firefox-based browser release submitted by a top-100 Digger? That sounds like possible front-page material to me - why only 10 diggs? Maybe it's because the story was excluded from Digg's search results: it doesn't appear in results for netscape or navigator. Is it possible that it was buried, and that's why it's not in the regular results?

No, it doesn't appear in the search results for buried stories either. In fact, I can't find it at all by searching on Digg. Has Digg instituted some sort of double secret probation for stories it doesn't want its users finding?

Articles about the release of the Navigator 9 Beta have been all over the Web today. Here are the major ones that I've spotted:

Slashdot: First Peek at Netscape Navigator 9

Fark: Netscape releases a new browser. In other news, Netscape still makes a browser

456 Berea Street: Software Update Day

Pronet Advertising: Netscape Navigator 9 Released - The Social Browser Has Landed

Linux.com: Netscape releases Netscape Navigator 9 beta 1

Download Squad: Netscape Navigator 9 Beta 1 released

Webware: Hands-on with Netscape's new social browser

Mac Daily News: Netscape Navigator 9.0 beta 1 released

Beta News: Netscape Browser Becomes 'Navigator' Again

If you're running Netscape Navigator 9.0, type "about:mozilla" into the address bar to see the newest verse from the Book of Mozilla:

"And thus the Creator looked upon the beast reborn and saw that it was good. -- from The Book of Mozilla, 8:20"

A cookie goes to the first person who can identify the true meaning of the symbolism used therein.

The long national nightmare is over: the beta of Netscape Navigator 9.0 has finally been released to the public.

Read the official announcement here.

Read a more informal introduction to the browser here.

Download it here.

Read the release notes here.

Discuss it here.

C.K. Sample III describes the last two years of working in various start-up environments inside and outside of AOL. I found this part especially interesting:

Aside: I must take a moment here to implore everyone at AOL: release the new Netscape Browser. I've played with early versions of it and it's great. The best browser out there. You will reap great rewards and good faith from the Internet community if you would simply release the bugger. The people who used to be my team worked hard on that thing and they deserve to see it released. It's Firefox, but better.

Amen.

I'm taking some time off from blogging... I'll be back on:

(Check back then... :-)

So tomorrow is my last day in Orlando. I don't know if it was something I ate (Cheeburger Cheeburger, I'm looking at you) or just the stress of traveling, but I've felt sick to my stomach since yesterday afternoon, which is terrible timing. If I was going to get sick during this trip, I would have preferred it to happen anytime during the week, since I can still program just fine if I'm nauseous, but it's awfully hard to enjoy the extra downtime of the weekend without being further than 20 feet from a bathroom (just in case).

The work portion of this week's ScapeCon was productive. We planned out some new features that are going to rock your world once they're released. I'm not kidding - the next time you feel the ground shake, or even if you stumble a little bit, that's just us at Netscape, releasing new features and rocking your world.

I should probably get to sleep; I have to be up before 6 tomorrow to make it to the airport in time to catch my flight. (Hopefully the plane won't be as packed as my two flights were on the way here.) Once home, Christina and I are road-tripping it to Yellowstone, so I'll be offline for the majority of the next week.

See you later, Navigator.