[96] in sw-release-announce
Netscape 6.2.1 Release Effort Underway
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lee Ridgway)
Thu Feb 21 15:15:54 2002
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Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 15:15:29 -0500
To: itpartners@MIT.EDU, macpartners@MIT.EDU, winpartners@MIT.EDU,
sw-release-announce@MIT.EDU
From: Lee Ridgway <ridgway@MIT.EDU>
Cc: infosys@MIT.EDU, itag@MIT.EDU
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Date: February 21, 2002
To: Members of the MIT Community
From: Netscape Product Release Team
Re: Netscape 6.2.1 Release Effort Underway
In December, 2001, Netscape Communications Corp. released Netscape 6.2.1
The Netscape Product Release Team will soon begin testing 6.2.1 for
compatibility within the MIT environment, especially with MIT
certificates and web-based applications. Our goal is to establish
support for Netscape 6.2.1 and release installers with MIT
customizations for Macintosh and Windows later this Spring.
IS does not recommend that MIT users upgrade to 6.2.1 until it has
been fully evaluated. System requirements, in terms of hard disk
space and RAM, are slightly higher than MIT's current supported
version, Netscape 4.78. The MIT certificate server is not currently
issuing certificates for 6.2.1.
New Features
-----------------
Netscape 6.2.1 provides bug fixes and offers new features over
previous versions of Netscape 6:
-- Improved integration with Windows XP
-- Full, native support for Macintosh OS X
(Note: Neither Windows XP or Mac OS X are yet fully supported by IS.)
-- Improved downloading for better management of different file types.
-- More seamless integration between Netscape Mail and other applications.
-- Improved stability and enhanced security.
The Netscape 6.2/6.2.1 Release Notes are available at:
http://home.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/ns62/relnotes/62.html
Testing
-------------
We will be soliciting testers once the installers are ready for
testing and will send a separate message with details. We are
particularly interested in testers who maintain secure web sites
relying on MIT certificates.
Software Distribution
-------------------------
As part of its support for Netscape 6.2.1, MIT will provide
installers with MIT customizations for Macintosh and Windows
platforms. The Netscape 6.2.1 vendor download, and further
information, is available from the Netscape browser site at:
http://home.netscape.com/browsers/6/index.html
Note: If you choose to evaluate Netscape 6.2.1 on your own and come
across additional issues or problems other than those mentioned in
the release notes, please send your findings to testresults@mit.edu.
Acquiring personal certificates is not yet available for 6.2.1.
Testing will also begin soon of 6.2.1 on the Athena Unix platforms.
The goal is to offer it as an option in the Athena infoagents locker
as soon as it is shown to be compatible with the MIT and Athena
environments. Netscape 6.2.1 will then become the default browser for
Athena 9.1, targeted for release in July, 2002.
More Information
----------------------
If you have questions or comments about the release effort, please
contact the Netscape Product Release Team at
netscape-release@mit.edu, or see the Netscape 6.2.1 release notebook
at:
http://web.mit.edu/swrt/netscape/
Lee Ridgway
Netscape Product Release Coordinator
