Netscape announces Netcaster

Netscape today formally announced their new Netcaster product, which isbeing developed under the code-named "Constellation." Netcaster will beincorporated as a component in the next preview release of Communicator,due next month. Netscape is clearly trying to out-race Microsoft's InternetExplorer 4.0, which offers similar push technology with a new Windowsshell. The Microsoft offering is expected to ultimately win-out overNetcaster, however, since it will eventually be bundled with the Windowsoperating systems and will be given away for free. Microsoft has alsooffered up the CDF push technology as an open standard. The Communicatorsuite, whose components will not sell separately, will cost $60-100,depending on the version purchased. It's likely that Netscape's biggestsuccesses with Netcaster will be on other platforms with less user-friendly interfaces, such as UNIX.

Netcaster features a "WebTop" personalized desktop replacement that candisplay channels of pushed content, Web sites, and local applicationssimultaneously.  Netscape plans on releasing WebTop APIs so that companiescan create custom desktops for their users. An airline reservation helpdesk might have a desktop filled with a custom version of SABRE, a toolto book airline reservations, for example. The nicest feature of WebTop isthat user settings are stored on a server so no matter what computer theyuse--ideally anywhere in the world--their customized settings will beavailable.

Other interesting features include:

Sadly, many of the features originally planned for Constellation have been(pardon the pun) pushed back to a later release or scrapped altogether sothat the product can be released more quickly. Originally, Constellationwas to allow users to store document files over the Internet so that theycould access them at different locations. Netscape is reviewing this planand might include it in the next version of Constellation, a piece ofvaporware code-named "Mercury." The "current" version, still in beta, isn'teven due until June and they're already talking about the next-nextversion.

As part of today's announcement, Netscape introduced over 20 contentproviders who are going to support Netcaster, including ABC News and CNN.

Personally, I think they should have kept the name "Constellation.