Beonex Communicator
Encyclopedia
Beonex Communicator was an open source
internet suite based on the Mozilla Application Suite
(MAS) by Ben Bucksch, a German Mozilla
developer, which have a higher security and privacy level than other commercial products.
The internet suite contained a web browser
, an email and news client, a HTML editor
(based on Mozilla Composer
) and an IRC
client (based on ChatZilla
).
Beonex Business Services offered the suite for free, provide documentation, easy install routines for third-party plug-ins, and tried to sell support and customers-specific changes on the browser. The main goal was to implement Kerberos, OpenPGP, and LDAP in Beonex, but that was marked as failed in mid 2004.
On the 5 January 2001 Beonex was included in the Linux distribution
kmLinux version S-0.4, but was already removed in version S-0.5 released on the 23 March 2001.
Beonex 0.8 released in June 2002 received well reviews about the speed.
Beonex Launcher(BeOL, spoken B-O-L), was an additional upcoming product that never left alpha status which was a stripped down version of the internet suite Beonex Communicator. It was a web browser combined with an email client and a chat client.
With a few preview releases of version 0.9 in mid 2002 he showed some new features he wanted to integrate, but before this version gained a stable status, her announced on the 2 March 2004 that no new releases were planned until the Mozilla Foundation
decided its future policy. In 2005, the Mozilla Foundation officially changed its policies and created the Mozilla Corporation
to provide end-user support.
Beonex Communicator 0.8.2-stable has several known security issues. Beonex received never big market share.
when the program exited and also disabled several JavaScript
functions which could have served as attack vectors.
In the following comparison table not all releases of Netscape and MAS are included. For a more complete table see Gecko (layout engine)
.
, and the AOL Instant Messenger
. The chattool ChatZilla was integrated and the sidebar
and the search engines
were other preconfigured. Beonex was less resources intensive than Netscape.
Beonex included a migration tool to include the old profiles from Netscape Communicator
.
, so not big changes were made.
HTML emails and JavaScript had been turned off by default and thus displaying email
s only in plain text
with bold and cursive additions which was added later in MAS 1.1. The search engines were compatible to the Mycroft project
and were located in the sidebar providing more features.
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
internet suite based on the Mozilla Application Suite
Mozilla Application Suite
The Mozilla Application Suite is a cross-platform integrated Internet suite. Its development was initiated by Netscape Communications Corporation, before their acquisition by AOL. It is based on the source code of Netscape Communicator...
(MAS) by Ben Bucksch, a German Mozilla
Mozilla
Mozilla is a term used in a number of ways in relation to the Mozilla.org project and the Mozilla Foundation, their defunct commercial predecessor Netscape Communications Corporation, and their related application software....
developer, which have a higher security and privacy level than other commercial products.
The internet suite contained a web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
, an email and news client, a HTML editor
HTML editor
An HTML editor is a software application for creating web pages. Although the HTML markup of a web page can be written with any text editor, specialized HTML editors can offer convenience and added functionality. For example, many HTML editors work not only with HTML, but also with related...
(based on Mozilla Composer
Mozilla Composer
Mozilla Composer is the free, open source HTML editor and web authoring module of the Mozilla Application Suite . It is used to create and to edit web pages, e-mail, and text documents easily. It is compatible with Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Composer is a graphical WYSIWYG HTML editor...
) and an IRC
Internet Relay Chat
Internet Relay Chat is a protocol for real-time Internet text messaging or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfer, including file...
client (based on ChatZilla
ChatZilla
ChatZilla is an IRC client for Mozilla-based browsers such as Firefox, introduced in 2000. It is cross-platform open source software which has been noted for its consistent appearance across platforms, CSS appearance customization and scripting....
).
Beonex Business Services offered the suite for free, provide documentation, easy install routines for third-party plug-ins, and tried to sell support and customers-specific changes on the browser. The main goal was to implement Kerberos, OpenPGP, and LDAP in Beonex, but that was marked as failed in mid 2004.
History
The Mozilla Organization stated that the Mozilla Application Suite was only for developers and testing purposes and was not meant for end users.On the 5 January 2001 Beonex was included in the Linux distribution
Linux distribution
A Linux distribution is a member of the family of Unix-like operating systems built on top of the Linux kernel. Such distributions are operating systems including a large collection of software applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, media players, and database applications...
kmLinux version S-0.4, but was already removed in version S-0.5 released on the 23 March 2001.
Beonex 0.8 released in June 2002 received well reviews about the speed.
Beonex Launcher(BeOL, spoken B-O-L), was an additional upcoming product that never left alpha status which was a stripped down version of the internet suite Beonex Communicator. It was a web browser combined with an email client and a chat client.
With a few preview releases of version 0.9 in mid 2002 he showed some new features he wanted to integrate, but before this version gained a stable status, her announced on the 2 March 2004 that no new releases were planned until the Mozilla Foundation
Mozilla Foundation
The Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit organization that exists to support and provide leadership for the open source Mozilla project. The organization sets the policies that govern development, operates key infrastructure and controls trademarks and other intellectual property...
decided its future policy. In 2005, the Mozilla Foundation officially changed its policies and created the Mozilla Corporation
Mozilla Corporation
The Mozilla Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation that coordinates and integrates the development of Internet-related applications such as the Mozilla Firefox and SeaMonkey Navigator web browsers and the Mozilla Thunderbird email client by a growing global community of...
to provide end-user support.
Beonex Communicator 0.8.2-stable has several known security issues. Beonex received never big market share.
Comparison with Netscape and MAS
The browser disabled referrers by default and has the possibility to create a fake referrers. The browser deleted all cookiesHTTP cookie
A cookie, also known as an HTTP cookie, web cookie, or browser cookie, is used for an origin website to send state information to a user's browser and for the browser to return the state information to the origin site...
when the program exited and also disabled several JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
functions which could have served as attack vectors.
In the following comparison table not all releases of Netscape and MAS are included. For a more complete table see Gecko (layout engine)
Gecko (layout engine)
Gecko is a free and open source layout engine used in many applications developed by Mozilla Foundation and the Mozilla Corporation , as well as in many other open source software projects....
.
| Mozilla Application Suite | Netscape | Beonex Communicator | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Version | Releasedate | |||
| 0.6 | 6.0 | 0.6 | 14 November 2000 | |
| 0.9.2 | 6.1 | |||
| 0.9.4 | 6.2 | |||
| 0.9.4.1 | 6.2.2 | 0.7 | 8 November 2001 | |
| 1.0 | 0.8 | 5 June 2002 | ||
| 1.0.1 | 7.0 | 0.8.1 | 19 September 2002 | |
| 1.0.2 | 7.01 and 7.02 | 0.8.2 | 10 March 2003 | |
| 1.1 | 0.9pre | 27 August 2002 | ||
Differences to Netscape
In contrast to Netscape, Beonex had included nearly the same features except the proprietary parts like the integrated Net2PhoneNet2Phone
-External links:**...
, and the AOL Instant Messenger
AOL Instant Messenger
AOL Instant Messenger is an instant messaging and presence computer program which uses the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time. It was released by AOL in May 1997...
. The chattool ChatZilla was integrated and the sidebar
Sidebar (computing)
The sidebar is a term that is used for a GUI element that displays various forms of information to the side of an application or desktop user interface.-Widgets in sidebars:...
and the search engines
Web search engine
A web search engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web and FTP servers. The search results are generally presented in a list of results often referred to as SERPS, or "search engine results pages". The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other...
were other preconfigured. Beonex was less resources intensive than Netscape.
Beonex included a migration tool to include the old profiles from Netscape Communicator
Netscape Communicator
Netscape Communicator was an Internet suite produced by Netscape Communications Corporation. Initially released in June 1997, Netscape Communicator 4.0 was the successor to Netscape Navigator 3.x and included more groupware features intended to appeal to enterprises.- Editions :Netscape...
.
Differences to MAS
Beonex Communicator was not a fork of MAS, it was a separate branchBranching (software)
Branching, in revision control and software configuration management, is the duplication of an object under revision control so that modifications can happen in parallel along both branches....
, so not big changes were made.
HTML emails and JavaScript had been turned off by default and thus displaying email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
s only in plain text
Plain text
In computing, plain text is the contents of an ordinary sequential file readable as textual material without much processing, usually opposed to formatted text....
with bold and cursive additions which was added later in MAS 1.1. The search engines were compatible to the Mycroft project
Mycroft project
The Mycroft project provides a collection of search plugins for Mozilla-based web browsers. The open source project is hosted on Mozdev.org and has been in existence since 2000...
and were located in the sidebar providing more features.
External links
- Beonex
- Beonex Communicator Screenshots, FlickrFlickrFlickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...