Confused by Mozilla/Seamonkey...

What on earth is the difference between the Seamonkey and Mozilla suite? I have to tell you that since Netscape was broken I've been so darned confused by the myriad of directions into which Mozilla has launched itself, that at times I've despaired of even sticking with it. Mozilla suite, Seamonkey (whatever the heck that is), Firefox, Thunderbird, Netscape 8. Sheesh!

Enlightenment would be appreciated.

 

Seamonkey Suite: Web browser, advanced e-mail and newsgroup client, IRC chat client, and HTML editor.

"Mozilla is a trademark of the Mozilla Foundation and historically had been used internally as a codename for the Netscape Navigator web browser from its beginning. It was a contraction of Mosaic killer, referring to the hope that the project would unseat Mosaic as the web's most popular browser, and a reference to the name of the fictional monster Godzilla." More Here.

Firefox: web browser

Thunderbird: Firefox email client

Netscape 8: latest version of Netscape

Communicator: Netscape's email client

What you use depends on your personal preferences.

 

Thanks... but... how is the latest version of Seamonkey different than the latest version of the Mozilla Suite?

 

James,
the decision was made by Mozilla Corp to go from the Mozilla Suite to standalone Firefox and Thunderbird, as well as Nvu (as Composer).
Some people have not like that, and decided to keep the suite concept with Seamonkey. I don't know who works on it, but it a limited effort, and the versions have never advanced past the "a" stage. Seamonkey incorporates a lot of the improvementwhich can be seen in FF1.5, and even in the developing 1.6.
The same applies with the parallel Thunderbird.
While Firefox 1.0.7 and Mozilla1.7.12 are based on the old 1.7.x (same as used in NS7.2 and NS8), FF1.5 is based on 1.5.x and the 1.6 types will be based on 1.9.x. Seamonkey1.5a, which I have been using, on 1.9a1, I think, so it is a bit more advanced than 1.5.
To expand on Miz list: Netscape8 is the latest Netscape, but it is a browser only, paralleling FF1.0.7.
I am not going into details which you find by yourself. Since Seamonkey is far from any final development, I wiould forget about it.
By the way what do you mean that Netscape is broken ?

 

James ...

I can't tell you how they differ, as I don't use either of them.

To paraphrase what Miz and Westside already have told you, the Mozilla Suite, controlled by the Mozilla Foundation, is no longer under development, as the emphasis is now on Firefox and Thunderbird. Further development of the Mozilla Suite code continues in the opensource SeaMonkey Project, now controlled by the SeaMonkey Council.

Westside ...

I suspect that James meant "since Netscape (the company) was broken up ", or "since Netscape (the suite) was broken down into its component parts ".