Oh man, today just gets better and better! AOL Time Warner are my hero of the day, having just released a new version of Netscape (version 7.01) that offers full pop-up window blocking.

AOL has apparently received an all time barrage of complaints from customers claiming that they just can't take this pop-up nonsense any more.... And what is more, neither can I.

The Internet as I once knew it is gone, replaced by one giant big advert. Hopefully, the entire population of the www world is about to realise that pop-ups and spam are about as useful as a chocolate fireguard (and about as annoying as a teenage guest on Jerry Springer) this comming year of 2003 and just start banning and abandoning these kinds of things altogether. My beautiful Internet may live again!

"Some Web watchers said AOL's new stance will likely stoke a broad consumer backlash against pop-ups that could eventually lead more publishers to cut back on or abandon the format."

I can't think of anything I'd rather happen to the Internet.

More here and here and here and download the new netscape here.