SeaMonkey Browser

[Bill Abbay]

For those of you who like being on the "bleeding edge" of technology, or at least of Internet browser software, the beta of SeaMonkey 1.0 was released last month. This is the successor to the famous Mozilla line that is apparently going to end with ver. 1.7.12.

The focus of the Mozilla group over the past couple of years has been to get the FireFox browser and Thunderbird email client up onto solid footing, which they have with version 1.5. As many of you know, these are stand-alone applications that are designed to work well together much as IE and Outlook. At one time, it was thought that the Mozilla "suite" that includes browser, email, chat, address book and composer (a simple web page designer) was going to be abandoned with the establishment of a robust FireFox/Thunderbird combination. Apparently there is a demand for a "swiss-army knife", well integrated suite, and the Mozilla Foundation has responded.

Why the Mozilla Foundation chose to name such a fine product after a brine shrimp, has not been made public. The unfortunate name and logo notwithstanding, this is an nice improvement to Mozilla 1.7.12 with many small enhancements present in the beta and with, presumably, more to come.

The beta seems very stable and I've adopted it as my primary browser. If you've been using Mozilla up to now, installation is a snap as SeaMonkey adopts all the mail, history, address book, etc. from Mozilla. In fact, until you start noticing the small niceties, the change is nearly invisible save the top window bar.

If you're curious, here's the place: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

[BOBSMITH]

I use Mozilla, but didn't end up using Thunderbird for my email. I can't say exactly why, but it just didn't work well for me. I think it failed to recognize spam as well as Outlook, and blocked some good emails that it should not have blocked.

[Bill Abbay]

FireFox and Thunderbird are both fine programs but lack the integration between the browser and email client that Mozilla/SeaMonkey does. Much commercial email (not the spam variety) comes packed with links, like my subscription to the New York Times headline service. With Mozilla/SeaMonkey, an HTML email message is treated a web page, as if it was in the browser. You can center click on each item of interest and then go to the browser to find each in it's own tab.

I have never used Outlook and seldom use IE.

My ISP blocks maybe 90% of spam and I find my message filters do pretty well on the rest. Still, I need to review the message headers that have been taggged as spam to be sure it isn't something I sent for or subscribed to.

[Frederick L. Simson]

[b]I have never used Outlook and seldom use IE.

My ISP blocks maybe 90% of spam and I find my message filters do pretty well on the rest. Still, I need to review the message headers that have been taggged as spam to be sure it isn't something I sent for or subscribed to.

That is also my strategy.

[Harry Gaudier]

I'm a "technical challenged" individual, but do have Firefox version 1.5.0.1 using Outlook Express. Cannot get Thunderbird to work properly with Firefox for some strange reason.
Maybe I should uninstall both of these first, then download SeaMonkey?

[Bill Abbay]

Harry,

You don't need to uninstall FireFox or Thunderbird, just install SeaMonkey in a different directory. I have IE, Opera, FireFox, Thunderbird, Mozilla, and SeaMonkey all on the same computer. Assuming you have Firefox installed in C:\Program Files\Mozilla.org\Firefox you would put SeaMonkey in C:\Program Files\Mozilla.org\Seamonkey.

You can import your email and address book from Outlook directly into Seamonkey without affecting Outlook. I'm not sure if it will import the Firefox history and searches, as I haven't gone in that direction.

One caveat: Seamonkey, at this stage is a beta version. But since it's built on a mature and robust Mozilla, it feels pretty solid. That being said, you should consider waiting for the first full version release ... unless you just can't wait to try it out.

If you use email in a business environment, you need to worry about getting messages into the wrong program and not knowing how to get them back to the "main" email client.

If you need a hand, send me a PM or email. Be glad to help.

[Time K]

Thanks for the heads up on SeaMonkey Bill.

For those interested IE7 beta is available for download now as well, and it sure looks alot like FireFox.............

[Harry Gaudier]

Thanks for the info Bill. Wasn't too sure if that was a beta version, so I will wait for the real thing. Cheers, eh!

[jrnutpaul]

We use a G5 version of Firefox called Deer Park with outlook mail. Will look into SeaMonkey.

Paul