Mozilla

Mozilla is a cross-platform Internet Suite, composed of several programs for web browsing, mail, web page development and chat.

It is heavily inspired by Netscape Communicator, which represented the starting point of Mozilla’s evolution.

The product, often referred to as the Mozilla Application Suite or the Mozilla Suite, has been discontinued in 2006 and superseded by SeaMonkey, which was developed based on Mozilla’s source code.

As expected from a successor, SeaMonkey is a richer, more stable suite that comprises an improved array of features. The Navigator from the original Mozilla became SeaMonkey Navigator, with an enhanced web browsing engine, while the Communicator was replaced by SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroup.

Subsequently, Mozilla Composer, which was a web page development utility, has been rewritten and renamed to SeaMonkey Composer. The same was done for Mozilla’s IRC Client, Chatzilla, whose name was preserved along with the transition.

The installation process, however, has been modified quite a bit; Mozilla benefited from an installer that allowed users to manually select the components to be deployed, while SeaMonkey no longer provides this option. The latter installs all the components without sporting too many choices.

It can be said that SeaMonkey is a combination of Firefox and Thunderbird, plus the added benefit of the chat, although the included web browser differs from Firefox, both as functionality and appearance, despite of sharing the same engine.

In conclusion, Mozilla is a long-gone project, which not only is no longer maintained, but also superseded by a better suite. At this point, it’s obvious that Mozilla is no longer compliant with the latest browser technologies, which should suffice to drive users to more modern navigators.

On the other hand, Mozilla’s code can be used by developers and adapted to match today’s browser requirements.