Final Mac Communicator 4.01 out

Netscape Communications (NSCP) has shipped the Macintosh version of its Communicator Internet client software.

The company posted the final version of Communicator 4.01 for 680x0 and PowerPC Macs late last night. According to a company spokeswoman, the shipping version of Communicator for Unix will "follow shortly," though it is not expected to be released this week.

Although it released Communicator for Windows 95, NT, and 3.1 earlier this month, Netscape promised to have final Mac and Unix versions of it by the end of June. The company has long touted its commitment to speedily releasing versions of its software for operating systems other than Windows.

Microsoft (MSFT) has promised to release beta versions of Internet Explorer 4.0 for Windows 95, NT, 3.1, and Mac by July. A final release of the browser for Windows 95 and NT is set to ship this summer, while the Mac and Windows 3.1 versions will ship within three months after that.

A beta of Explorer 4.0 for Unix is due at the end of 1997.

Version 4.01 of Communicator contains a fix for a security bug that was discovered by a Danish programmer earlier this month. The Mac version is available on Netscape's FTP site.