Netscape brushes off suggestions of bullyboy tactics

NEWS Netscape has reacted to accusations that it is using its dominance in the browser market to siphon Web traffic onto its own Web site. Duscan Rnic, product manager at Netscape UK, said: "Our browser does drive traffic to Netcenter - it's on this basis that browser software has always worked and it's why Netcenter is so successful." The accusations came from Dave Winer at Scripting.com - a small news and Internet advisory Web site. The smart browser featured in Netscape's latest software release, Communicator 4.5, includes a keyword search incorporated into the URL address entry. Rather than having to type out the whole address, it will fill in the details based on a keyword and go to that Web site instantly. Winer complained that the browser only takes you to areas on Netcenter that relate to the keyword and ignores other Web sites with the same name. He said hijacking Web traffic away from other sites "is the lowest way to compete". But Rnic insisted that "Netscape is not taking an unfair advantage". He said that although the word search will take browsers to Netcenter pages, it will also present 'related sites' outside that area.