Like its chief rival Internet Explorer 4.0, Netscape Communicator is a fourth-generation browser that seeks to expand the role of the client far beyond simple Web browsing. While the next release of Netscape will be a complete rewrite of the Web browser code and will offer a radically different interface, the Communicator 4 release focuses on building critical communications capabilities around a much-improved Web browser.
Despite the fact that the Web browser component now trails Internet Explorer in terms of speed, features, and market share, the Internet Suite that has emerged in Netscape Communicator is arguably the most powerful of its kind currently on the 'net.
