Netscape 7 will have NO ad-blocking features...

When Netscape 7.0 is released shortly, don't expect to see the ad blocking feature that is in Mozilla 1.0 to be included!

Mozilla 1.0, launched in early June as the first public version of the Netscape-inspired open-source browser, lets Web surfers easily zap unsolicited windows known as pop-up ads, which are widely used by mainstream sites including America Online and its subsidiary Netscape Communications.

Though heralded by Mozilla users, a group that includes many Web developers, the pop-up zapping tool didn't make the cut for the preview version of Netscape 7.0 and won't appear in its upcoming launch, according to the company.

As Michael Gartenberg, research director with Jupiter Research points out... "Netscape is a commercial offering - it's not in its interest to offer a browser that could kill pop-up ads. That's the equivalent of one of the broadcast networks coming out with a digital video recorder that can skip commercials."

Mozilla 1.0's feature is engineered to ignore that JavaScript command. It typically blocks all unwanted windows including questionnaires and informational boxes, but Web surfers can still request such boxes by clicking on a link.

"The pop-up blocker is awesome," said James Russell, a Web editor who has been a Mozilla convert since the late 1990s. "What's cool is that legitimate pop-up windows, that is, those that are actually necessary for a site, seem to work just fine; somehow Mozilla knows which ones to block."

Update: It looks like a work-around has been discovered, found it on good olde /.!

News source: CNet News.com