OK, so Netscape shipping with new HP machines is not really OSS news. Still, it is an interesting turn of events that might just be of interest to the Open Source community, though.

Starting next year, Hewlett-Packard’s PC customers will be able to select the Netscape (Overview, Articles, Company) browser as their default window to the Internet, the companies announced Monday.

The Netscape 8.0 browser will ship on HP’s PCs in the U.S. and Canada starting early next year, with links both in the Start menu and on the desktop of Microsoft’s (Profile, Products, Articles) Windows XP operating system. Users also will be able to make the browser their default choice when setting up new HP PCs, said Andrew Weinstein, a Netscape spokesman. Netscape is a division of America Online (Profile, Products, Articles). [Read the rest]