Maybe they are just wanting to make sure they get it right before they release it to their customers. AOL is holding off on its release of the Netscape browser to their customers. The actual release was going to be in February, but was moved out as there are still some bugs to be worked out.

America Online Inc. (AOL) on Thursday released the first public test version of Netscape 8, a new Web browser with features designed to protect users against online scams and malicious code.

The beta release was originally scheduled for mid-February, but was delayed to fix some last-minute bugs. A preview version of the browser has been available to a select group of testers since late November. The Netscape 8 beta version differs significantly from that preview.

With the release of Netscape 8 beta, AOL is taking aim at Microsoft Corp.’s dominant Internet Explorer (IE) Web browser, which has been the subject of many security vulnerabilities. Also, AOL is looking to piggyback on the popularity of Firefox, the open source Web browser that was released in November and has since been downloaded about 27 million times.

The Netscape 8 browser includes features that are meant to protect users while surfing the Web. For example, the browser adjusts settings based on a list of known malicious Web sites to protect users from phishing scams. Also, trusted Web sites are displayed with fewer restrictions and use the IE rendering engine for maximum compatibility.