The idea behind SeaMonkey is to provide users with an all-in-one Internet application for their needs. SeaMonkey is based on the Mozilla platform which is also used by the Firefox web browser. Unlike Firefox it includes additional tools and internet applications like an email client, IRC chat client or news feed client. It shares code with both Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird.

Experienced Firefox users may weight in that they can install add-ons that add the functionality to the browser. While that’s true for some features like the IRC chat, it is not true for others like the email client. When you look closer, you will notice that SeaMonkey has integrated some of those add-ons in the browser.

Users basically get Firefox plus already installed add-ons and additional integrated tools like the email client. That’s handy for Internet users who are not tech savvy enough to install add-ons for instance, or users who want one software for all their Internet needs. SeaMonkey offers to import data from Thunderbird if the email client is discovered during installation which is handy for users who want to make the switch.

The release notes list the new features of SeaMonkey 2.1, among them integration of data synchronization, the Firefox add-on Personas which can be used to modify the browser’s theme more easily, a new data manager for managing permissions, cookies, passwords and form data, and improved plugin handling.

The release benefits from Mozilla core platform changes, resulting in better startup and shutdown performance, better memory management, better HTML5 support and protection from out of date plugins.

Windows 7 users benefit from jump list and download progress support and Linux users from desktop notifications.

Interested users can download SeaMonkey 2.1 from the official project website. The Internet software is available for Windows, Linux and Mac, and is offered as a localized version.

As a note on the side. SeaMonkey 2.1 is still using the old Firefox design, making it an excellent alternative for users who do not want to make the switch to Firefox 4 because of the design.

That’s a problem as it means that users have to look for updates manually, or make use of one of the userscript updaters to receive notifications about updates. This is true for all userscript implementation, regardless of the browser they are installed on.

Install With is a userscript with an interesting concept to resolve the updating problem once and for all. The userscript basically makes sure that userscripts are installed with auto updating functionality, so that update notifications are displayed to the user whenever a script can be updated.

Here is how it works in detail. Install the Install With userscript first. It can be installed like any other userscript and requires no configuration. Please note that it is currently only compatible with Firefox and Seamonkey. Both web browsers need the Greasemonkey add-on before they can install userscripts.

The Install With userscript alters the install page on the userscripts website. It places a selection menu below the install button, that displays options to install the script with auto updating functionality. Install With supports various auto updaters and an option to install the script without auto updating functionality.

The option to install the script without automatic updating is the default selection. Selecting an auto updater from the pulldown menu will display parameters on the screen. Here it is possible to configure the minimum and maximum time between update checks.

The userscript tries to detect if another userscript uses a built-in updater. If that is the case it will notify the user, and it is the best option to install it without another updater. Security advisories are displayed if an update of a userscript has been detected. These advisories are rudimentary, and use severity ratings from critical to low and undetermined.

Install With is a must have userscript for every Firefox and Seamonkey users with Greasemonkey installed. It adds a much needed functionality to all scripts.

The second release candidate of Seamonkey 2.0 is already available for download at the Mozilla website. There it is available for all supported operating systems and languages.

According to a post in the Seamonkey newsgroup no separate release notes are being published for release candidates. The developers of Seamonkey 2.0 have therefor not published release notes for this new release. According to sources it should be the last release candidate before the final release of the Internet suite.

Seamonkey 2.0 RC2 can be downloaded from the Mozilla Seamonkey website. The Usenet post announcing the second release candidate can be accessed here.

The first release candidate of Seamonkey 2.0 has been published on the Mozilla Seamonkey project page. Interested users can download the Internet suite for all supported operating systems (Windows, OSX and Linux) and languages. A page full of changes relative to the latest Seamonkey 1.0 stable release has been posted by the developers. The list is huge. Some of the noteworthy additions include session restore, tabbed mail, switch to the Toolkit backend used by Firefox, improved password manager and download manager, update of the Gecko rendering engine and dropped support for Windows NT 4, Windows 9x, Windows ME and Mac OSX 10.3.

One aspect of Google Image Search that is bugging many users is that it does not link directly to the image but to a Google page that displays the website containing the image in a frame. This means that users need to click on the image to be taken to the framed page where they can either scroll until they find the image or click on the image that is displayed on top to display the full sized image.

The Google Image Relinker userscript changes this default behavior by linking directly to the images in the Google Image search results pages. The developer has confirmed that the script works in Firefox, Opera and Seamonkey with the possibility that it will work in other web browsers that support userscripts (Google Chrome, Safari) as well.

The script basically safes time by allowing the user to view the image directly from the search result pages. A link to the framed version (which is the default way) is provided as well. Google Image Relinker is an interesting userscript for those users who work with the Google Image Search engine regularly.