The official Netscape Blog has announced that Netscape 9 is under development, and just like the current version, it will presumably be based on Mozilla Firefox. According to the announcement, Netscape 9 will be a standalone browser and will have extension integration with the Netscape.com website (Digg clone). Unlike version 8, Netscape 9 will be available simultaneously for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X in the "next month or two". The Netscape 9 announcement includes a small screenshot (the menu bar indicates that it"s based on Firefox 2) and states that the browser will borrow Firefox implementations such as Live Bookmarks, Netscape Friends" Activity Sidebar and the Netscape Sitemail Notifier.
Netscape once again employs its own programming staff (development of Netscape Browser 8 was outsourced to Mercurial Communications) and the company is also considering resuming support for features like Netscape Mail and Netscape Composer. New information about Netscape 9 will be released every Tuesday; the first such update was the announcement that the browser will be cross-platform, coupled with a screenshot of a stylish new FTP view. Will AOL"s steps be enough to halt Netscape"s continuous browser market share decline (from its original 80% in the mid-Nineties)?