Mozilla releases SeaMonkey 2.0

Do you pine for the Netscape Communicator days with unified browser and e-mail software but want something more current? Mozilla on Tuesday released SeaMonkey 2.0, which combines Firefox and Thunderbird.

The new version, for Windows, Mac, and Linux, is rebuilt with Firefox 3.5.4 and is more closely aligned with the standalone browser. "SeaMonkey is now much closer to Firefox as far as user profiles, add-ons, and functionality of user interface elements are concerned," according to the release notes. Among other changes:

• Retrieving e-mail using the IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) protocol is faster, and for new IMAP accounts, mail is synchronized by default with the local computer.

• The Mozilla Lightning calendar plug-in for Thunderbird can be used.

• E-mail accounts, folders, and messages can be viewed in tabs.

• The mail module lets you subscribe to RSS and Atom feeds that the browser discovers on Web pages.

• The browser is faster at running Web-based JavaScript programs and supports a variety of modern Firefox features coming with the HTML5 standard.

• Browser tabs can be reopened after being closed, and tabs are reloaded if the browser crashes.

• The user interface for handling add-ons, passwords, forms, cookies, and downloads have been overhauled.

• The Mac OS X theme fits in better with the look of Leopard and Snow Leopard, the previous and current versions of the Apple operating system.

• Several older operating systems are no longer supported: Windows 95, 98, Me, and NT 4 as well as Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) and 10.3 (Panther).

The software is available as a download for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux in 18 languages.

[cbscowards]

I hope they came up with a strategy to keep this in step with Firefox. The last thing we need is another splinter browser to test against. SeaMonkey was lagging FF pretty badly.

[Shankland]

It's encouraging they got this out using the brand-new Firefox 3.5.4. At a minimum, it's a good start.

[abcd9009]

This might be off the topic but is there a way to view newsgroups in Outlook 2007?

[workingwriter]

Does anyone know if there will be an auto-update pushed out for existing 1.x users?

[Trane Francks]

No auto-update for 1.x users. I manually updated mine. The profile import was wicked fast!

[benopolis]

Stupidest. Product Name. Ever.

[TusharG]

I agree! I even hate their logo.

[pentest]

Worse then Bing?

[casper75]

I've been waiting for this new version of SeaMonkey to come out & all I can say it's been worth the wait I was testing the beta's & RC1 & 2 & I would have to say it's been very stable & I've had no issues what so ever, I've been using SeaMonkey since day 1 & in terms of performance this browser beats Firefox hands down & it even works great if you have a slow internet connection or in my case a connection which has been shaped due to exceeding my download quota. If your sick of having to open Thunderbird constantly to check your e-mails & if you want a built in RSS feed reader than I'd highly recommend giving SeaMonkey a try because when you are browsing it will actually notify you when new e-mails come through.

As for the name & logo sure they might sound & look strange but what about other browsers like K-Meleon, Opera & Flock you could say that they have stupid names but no one I think has ever raised that with those browsers when new editions have come out.

[Thermonuclear]

Do you pine for the Netscape Communicator days with unified browser and e-mail software but want something more current? Opera has it for years already.

[Nomaxxx]

Technically, SeaMonkey existed before Opera.

[Techmanih]

SeaMonkey is way better than Opera. Opera STILL has browsing issues where pages don't load right.
I say this is the best browser out there yet. The ease of E-mail integration is a big plus.

[2sune]

will giver her a try!

[klor5]

Opera is a complete joke.End of story.

[LucasDT]

Drop dead. Opera rules. Mozilla is alway one step behind... try catching up buddies!

[nothingssomething]

i'm about to give it my survey i'm expectant ...... don't let me down! i was excited about their last one too but now i see they have compiled their feedback and listened as well as they could.

[nothingssomething]

well as i am touring i am writing things i notice as hindrances.
ok not laptop friendly out of the box, and it loves to open new windows BUT you can change this in the settings.
imunix limit removal hasn't crossed over yet :( i notified them via sea-monkey and it worked well.
no goog analytic integration meaning typing in "Microsoft" and pressing enter in the address bar only brings you to google and not to Microsoft :( | huge loss of points. checking for a fix.....none but you can improve on it a bit in the preferences section but it's nothing like ff it just puts in .com, seems like that would be easy to do.
no on-tab "X". to close any tab you gotta remember the hot-key, or drag your mouse all the way over to the right time consuming if oyur a tabber like me.

in regards to performance, i am not sure if i can be the one to document on this as my system is rated high in Microsoft,.., but i am gonna call the analytic issue mentioned above as a performance issue. and give it an overall rating of 8 cause i'm in a non-complacent mood.

[CrazySean82]

You can also close a tab by right-clicking it and selecting "Close Tab," which is what I do whenever I use SeaMonkey. But I agree that the lack of an "X" button on the tab itself (like Safari has, for example) is a bummer.