If you regularly use Netscape 4.75 as your Web browser, you’ve probably also noticed that many Web sites have a tagline reading: This site is best viewed using Netscape 6 or 7 or even Internet Explorer. Of particular interest to Lab employees is the fact that UC’s HR and Benefits Web sites will soon require Netscape 6.2 (or greater) or Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 (or greater).

At issue is that the Netscape 4.75 version is the Lab standard client for email. Tests on newer versions of Netscaped have uncovered problems such as unexpected deleting of email folders. Some employees have decided to keep the 4.75 email client, but upgrade their browser to version 6 or 7. The drawback? You can’t open links from email messages.

As a workaround, the Computing Infrastructure Technology Group (CITG) is recommending that (and will support) employees using Internet Explorer as their Web browser. Netscape 4.75 is still the supported and recommended client for email, and users can access URLs in messages by right-clicking on the link and selecting "copy link location." This will put a copy of the URL on the clipboard, which can then be pasted into the address field of any browser.

CITG staff members continually evaluate new software and hardware in order to provide the Lab with services that are both up to date and compatible with existing systems. As part of their ongoing evaluation of new versions of Web browser and email client software, CITG is also evaluating Mozilla 1.3 as a possible replacement for the older Netscape client. At present, however, the group recommends against and does not support the use of Netscape 6.X or 7.X for connecting to Lab systems and services.

"We understand the need for more modern browsers and email clients, but we want to ensure that we recommend products that are reliable and known to work properly with our systems. This is especially critical for email clients, which have the potential to destroy or corrupt data. We have found several problems with Netscape 6.x and 7.x working with the Lab's IMAP email system, and will not recommend them to Lab users until/unless these problems are corrected in later releases -- to do so would be a disservice to our customers," group member James E. Lee said.

"There are, of course, no restrictions on what software Lab users may choose, though we hope our recommendations will be considered,” Lee said.

In the case of the UC Benefits Web site in particular,CITG recommends: