Representing a Niche

In my efforts to help the Web community as a whole in testing various beta-level applications on a lower-end but still quite usable machine, I've run into a few hurdles. But Netscape is reaching for a whole new level of suck.

After reading about several limited beta releases of a new, Firefox-based Netscape browser, I finally found a public download of one at Softpedia. So I started the download and, with the freedom of a dial-up connection, I took advantage of the wait time by carefully orchestrating some exercise time for my two dogs. In other words, I put them in the backyard and threw a tennis ball around for twenty minutes. When I came back inside, I navigated my way to my application installers folder and double-clicked on the new Netscape setup file. And boy, was I surprised when I was treated to a dialog that said that since I had less than 64MB of RAM (this old box has 56MB, for some reason), Netscape can't install itself. I was given a cheerful "OK" button, and that was that.

So let's all give a nice round of applause to AOL's software team, who once again have proven that you don't actually have to please the actual user as long as you've pleased the average user.