Microsoft has alerted consumers that Netscape's latest browser appears to break the XML rendering capabilities in Microsoft Internet Explorer. Dave Massy, a senior program manager for IE, warned users in a blog posting that after installing Netscape 8, IE will render XML files as a blank page, including XML files that have an XSLT transformation.
Microsoft did not make clear what versions of IE were affected, but a user of the DeveloperDex forum said he experienced the problem on version 6 of IE, which had been patched with Windows Service Pack 2. Microsoft said it is investigating the problem and will work with Netscape to resolve it. It advised a "workaround" of uninstalling Netscape 8 and editing the registry settings.
One reader of the blog said the rendering problem could be a problem with IE, rather than Netscape. He suggested that such a feature could be useful for Microsoft as it would deter users considering a migration from IE to Netscape.
But another reader, Chris Beach, came to Microsoft's defense. "Cue endless conspiracy theories about Microsoft's 'dirty tactics.' Honestly, the rubbish you (Microsoft) have to put up with...my heart goes out to you guys. Keep up the good work with IE 7," he said.
This issue could be another blow to Netscape, which released Netscape 8 only two weeks ago. Just a day after launching Netscape 8 and touting the browser's security features, the company released an update to fix several serious flaws.
We’ve just confirmed an issue that has started to be reported on newsgroups and forums that after installing Netscape 8 the XML rendering capabilities of Internet Explorer no longer work. That means that if you navigate in IE to an XML file such as an RSS feed
http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml/rss.xml or an XML file with an XSLT transformation applied then rather than seeing the data you are presented with a blank page.
We currently have the following work around for people that are hitting this issue:
- Uninstall Netscape 8
- START->RUN
- Type: regedit
- Hit ENTER
Navigate to the following:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Plugins\Extension
Highlight and right-click the node titled "xml" and select delete.
Restart Internet Explorer
Unfortunately if Netscape 8 remains installed then the registry key is continually rewritten so this is an essential step if you are to be able to view XML content in IE. We are currently continuing our investigation and are looking forward to working with Netscape to resolve this issue.
Seems to me Netscape is still a pretty bad browser. At least Firefox works well!