Netscape 8 loads MS Java for archive, Sun otherwise

[Mickey Segal]

Netscape's new 8.0 browser acts in ways that may be surprising. In its
Internet Explorer mode on Windows with both Sun and MS JVMs installed, it
will load a Java applet using the Sun VM. However, if the applet is
available in both JAR and CAB files it will load the CAB file using the MS
VM.

I have no complaint with this behavior but it represents new information to
keep in mind when a user is describing behavior of a Java applet.

 

[Mickey Segal]

Oops. This is wrong - the Internet Explorer mode seems to be using the MS
VM consistently now.

 

[Daniel Dyer]

Oops. This is wrong - the Internet Explorer mode seems to be using the
MS
VM consistently now.

Which JVM do you have configured for 'proper IE'? If you change IE to use
Sun's VM and then fire up Netscape 8 in IE mode, does it then use Sun's VM?

As I understand it, Netscape 8 just uses the rendering component from the
existing version of IE on the machine, so I wouldn't be surprised if
changes to IE's configuration affected Netscape's IE mode.

Dan.

 

[Mickey Segal]

Surprisingly, when I set IE to use Sun's Java, Netscape 8 in IE mode still
uses MS Java.

But fiddling around I think I discovered how I messed up in my initial
report. Netscape 8 will remember which mode you used for a particular page,
so you can be in Firefox mode and then click to another page and it will
remember you used IE mode for that page previously and helpfully switch
modes for you.

This has its advantages, but it can be confusing in that people will not
know which mode they are in unless they look. Presumably this happened in
my testing, accounting for my initial report and rapid retraction.