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On 28/12/2020 14:54, Paul Sutton via list wrote:
Hi all I saw this posted to Mastodon earlier, which was reposted from Twitter.https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/948104/EU-UK_Trade_and_Cooperation_Agreement_24.12.2020.pdfPage 921 refers to Netscape Communicator -Is anyone likely to still be using Netscape communicator ? Or are they just referring to the fact that Netscape Communicator supported s/mime?
ghost@failbot:~$ ps -ewaf | grep Navigator | head -n 1ghost 1213447 6175 2 14:56 ? 00:00:01 C:\Program Files (x86)\Netscape\Navigator 9\navigator.exe
Not just Communicator but Navigator. Version 9.0.0.6 to be precise, fresh off the press... in 2008.
Why? In my world I have a lot of network infrastructure stuff. Switches, routers, appliances and all kinds of strange but critical proprietary vendor stuff, often frozen in time. Many don't receive firmware upgrades past a certain point but otherwise sit in their racks for months and years on end. Once in a blue moon they need attention and someone like me knows that if you point any of the modern fancy standards-compliant kitchen sink browsers at the control interface of these black boxes, then absolutely nothing will happen. In some cases the weirdness will be more subtle (switches particularly) and the interface will seem to render properly until you eventually realise that the port VLAN config page is broken and won't apply any changes (cough NetGear ProSafe cough).
Every sysadmin keeps a tame vintage browser or three in a wine prefix that they know will play safe with some of the fussier infrastructure stuff quietly working away in the corners of their realm. After *years* of experimenting Netscape Navigator 9.0.0.6 is my go-to for specifically this job and nothing else. But I use it at least once a week and frequently more often than that. Sometimes if I'm re-provisioning or wiping a particularly ancient or weird $thing I'll need to go back in time even further than that to find a compatible browser - I've seen old AP controllers that require specific and very early versions of ActiveX enabled browsers to render their control panels which becomes a fun game of "hunt the exact early build of Internet Explorer". And I have an entire cupboard full of weird cables and custom serial connectors to talk to other stuff but that's another story.
So yes, at least one person _is_ using Netscape. No idea about the second question though.
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