Netscape, one of the most venerable names on the Internet, is about to be reborn as a user-driven news site along the lines of the popular Digg. Parent AOL hopes that the new service with its brand recognition will help establish the company in the flavour-of-the-month social networking sector.
As with Digg, visitors are able to comment and vote on particular stories that will rise up the page according to the level of interest. AOL says it has developed a complex formula based on the number of comments and votes as well as visits and the time between each of these.
In order that there is no fiddling of the rankings by people submitting multiple comments or votes, Netscape has hired a group of Editors who will monitor the service and the accuracy of the content 24/7.
Netscape has been reincarnated a number of times since the browser business crumpled under the onslaught of Microsoft, many of whose business practices were later found to be illegal under anti-trust legislation. AOL bought Netscape in 1998 for between $4.5 and $9 billion depending on how you count it. As well as a browser business, Netscape has also been an Internet portal, an ISP and a supplier of Intranet solutions to enterprises.
You can check out the new service at the Netscape beta site. From the beginning of next month, the service will be transferred to the Netscape parent site.
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