A Mozilla developer claims the next version of Netscape is about to be released and says it will be significantly different to an earlier beta version.

Gervase Markham — a core developer of the Bugzilla bug tracking system and former Mozilla Foundation intern — claimed on his blog the release was scheduled for Thursday in the United States.

“You heard it here first,” said Markham. “Apparently it’s quite different to the beta, because several features which weren’t ready then are now.”

A spokesperson for America Online (AOL), which owns Netscape and develops the browser, was not available at the time of publication, nor was Markham available to expand on his comments.

A beta version of Netscape 8 has been available since early March. That version of Netscape was based on code from version 1.0 of the open source browser Firefox. At that time AOL said the product would remain in a testing phase for at least several weeks.

One of the key promised features of the new browser is protection against online phishing attacks — e-mails that purport to come from trusted companies and lure users into providing personal details such as bank passwords or credit card information.

The browser will use frequently updated lists of Web sites that are suspected of distributing spyware or hosting phishing schemes to protect users.

Source: ZDNet