SeaMonkey

SeaMonkey is a free and open source^[2] cross-platform Internet suite. It is the continuation of the former Mozilla Application Suite, based on the same source code. Core Mozilla project source code is licensed under a disjunctive tri-license that gives the choice of one of the three following sets of licensing terms: Mozilla Public License, version 1.1 or later, GNU General Public License, version 2.0 or later, GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1 or later.^[3]

The development of SeaMonkey is community-driven, in contrast to the Mozilla Application Suite, which until its last released version (1.7.13) was governed by the Mozilla Foundation. The new project-leading group is the SeaMonkey Council.

Components

SeaMonkey consists of a web browser (SeaMonkey Navigator), which is a descendant of the Netscape family, an e-mail and news client program (SeaMonkey Mail & Newsgroups, which shares code with Mozilla Thunderbird), an HTML editor (SeaMonkey Composer) and an IRC client (ChatZilla). The software suite supports skins. It comes with two skins in the default installation, Modern and Classic.^[4]

Mail

Mail features includes support for multiple accounts, junk mail detection, message filters, HTML message support, a dictionary, an address book, customizable labels , add-ons and mail views as well as integration with the rest of suite.

Composer

SeaMonkey Composer is a WYSIWYG HTML editor. Its main user interface features four tabs: Normal (WYSIWYG), HTML tags, HTML code, and browser preview. The generated code is HTML 4.01 Transitional. As of version 1.1.13, SeaMonkey Composer supports basic text formatting and styling, insertion of hyperlinks and images, and the creation of tables. It does not support the addition of form elements (text fields, check boxes, and buttons). SeaMonkey Composer is scheduled to be updated with the release of KompoZer 0.8 which is currently under development.

Portability

The SeaMonkey project releases official builds for three operating systems: Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. It also releases "unofficial" 64-bit builds for Linux. Unofficial ports exist for FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, IRIX, OS/2, Solaris, AIX and BeOS/magnussoft ZETA.

Reception

A PC World review by Dennis O'Reilly described Seamonkey version 1.0 as easy to use, except for ChatZilla.^[5] The reviewer found the program buggy and gave it 3.5 stars out of 5.

A Softpedia review thought the software suite version 1.0 was both easy to use and feature packed. Nistor rated the program 4 out of 5 stars.^[4] CNet users rated it 4/5 as of the 2.0.14 release.^[6]

Naming

To avoid confusing organizations that still want to use the original Mozilla Suite, the new product needed a new name. After initial speculation by members of the community, a July 2, 2005 announcement confirmed that SeaMonkey would officially become the name of the Internet suite superseding the Mozilla Suite.

"Seamonkey" was formerly used (but with lowercase m) by Netscape and the Mozilla Foundation as a code name for the never-released "Netscape Communicator 5" and later the Mozilla Suite itself. Originally, the name derived from needing a nicer word instead of ButtMonkey^[7] winning a contest for it and chosen with reference to brine shrimp. The SeaMonkey Council has now trademarked the name with help from the Mozilla Foundation.^[8] The project uses a separate numbering scheme, with the first release being called SeaMonkey 1.0. Despite having a different name and version number, SeaMonkey 1.0 is based on the same code as Mozilla 1.8.

Due to trademark and copyright reasons^[2] Debian rebranded SeaMonkey and distributes it as Iceape.

History

On March 10, 2005, the Mozilla Foundation announced that it would not release any official versions of Mozilla Application Suite beyond 1.7.x, since it had now focused on the standalone applications Firefox and Thunderbird. However, the Foundation emphasized that it would still provide infrastructure for community members who wished to continue development. In effect, this meant that the suite would still continue to be developed, but now by the SeaMonkey Council instead of the Mozilla Foundation.

The SeaMonkey Council, which is the team responsible for project and release management, currently consists of Philip Chee, Karsten Düsterloh, Robert Kaiser, Ian Neal, Neil Rashbrook, Andrew Schultz and Justin Wood.

The first version of SeaMonkey, 1.0 Alpha, was released on September 15, 2005,^[9] followed by SeaMonkey 1.0 stable released on January 30, 2006.

Release history

Parts of this table are based on the SeaMonkey release notes, the roadmap and the meeting notes.

•   Old release
•   Current release
•   Future release
•   Current test release

See also

Notes

References

External links

• The SeaMonkey Project
• SeaMonkey Wiki
• SeaMonkey Add-ons