

The Netscape 7.0 preview release improves what felt like unfinished work with the Netscape 6.x browser. Highlights of the new features include Tabbed Browsing e-mail management tools and which hooks into AOL's Spinner online music division. Netscape expects to ship the final version this summer, says Catherine Corre, Netscape communications director. But download Netscape 7.0 Preview Release 1 at your own risk, recognizing there are reasons it's still in beta testing. A cursory review of the beta version of Netscape 7.0 running on the Windows XP operating system was stable compared to prerelease versions of Netscape 6.x.

division has ratcheted its software with some nifty new features and even some copycat Internet Explorer tricks. The browser-building AOL Time Warner Inc. Opening this week is "Browser Wars: Episode 7." Like a sequel lumbering into the cineplex, Netscape Communications Corp.'s latest preview of its Netscape 7.0 browser will battle with Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer.
