America Online's Netscape Communication's subsidiary on Wednesday launched a preview of its newest Web browser, another sign of AOL's reinvigorated campaign to win consumers back from Microsoft. Netscape 7.0 is the latest browser version developed around a technology called Gecko, which was created by an open-source browser movement known as Mozilla and funded by AOL. Over the past year, the online giant has been testing Gecko in preview versions of its popular flagship AOL service. Although AOL uses Microsoft's Internet Explorer as its default Web browser, the company has been clear about its intentions for reviving Netscape. It is beta testing its AOL 7.0 online service with Gecko for both Windows and Mac users, and its CompuServe subsidiary is using Gecko in the official version of its service.

"'Browser wars' is a catchy term but not necessarily apropos," said AOL spokesman Marty Gordon. "Microsoft was found to be engaging in monopolistic behavior. We think consumers want a choice, and Netscape is giving it to them." Gordon would not say whether future generations of the AOL service plan to drop IE as the default Web-browsing technology.

Netscape 7.0 Preview Release 1 includes the following new features:

If you're brave enough you can download this alpha software clicking the link below: