Netscape Communications Friday announced its Communicator
browser is now available in more languages and on more platforms than any other
browser on the market, with 23 language versions created in collaboration with IBM.
Languages include U.S. and UK English, French, German, Japanese, Danish, simplified and traditional Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, Polish, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Turkish and Slovenian.
Netscape said the IBM agreement to jointly develop, bundle and distribute Communicator 4.51 is one of several relationships targeting 99 percent of the world’s Internet user base in their native languages. Other partners for international distribution include Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, Silicon Graphics and Apple Computer.
“Netscape’s goal has always been to provide the best browsing and e-mail software for users around the globe,” said Bob Lisbonne, Netscape’s senior vice president of client products. “This relationship with IBM plays a critical role in making Netscape Communicator available to everyone everywhere, regardless of language or location.”
A localized Netcenter page serves users in the UK, France, Germany, Japan, Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Korea, Latin America, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Taiwan. Customers also have access to the English-language Netcenter.
Netscape estimates that the multilanguage option gives more than 200 million Internet users in 125 countries the opportunity to use Netscape Communicator in their native language. Nearly 32 million non-English-speaking Netscape users now have the Communicator user interface in their native language for e-mail, composition, browsing, and access to regional news and content.