Browsers History

Documento Editado por Mauricio Dabdoub para ser utilizado en clases de E-Business
This page contains a short history of

for the use of its browser but gave it away for

browsers from 1991 to the present day.

free to carefully selected target audiences,

History before 1998 is rather sketchy

like students and teachers. This helped

since I didn't live through it myself. I got

immeasurably to spread the word and to

my own first browser, Netscape 3, in 1997,

ensure Netscape dominance.

and only from that time on I started

following the browser market and its

Netscape 1 was succeeded by Netscape 2

fluctuations.

(March '96), which supported frames and

JavaScript. Then came Netscape 3 (Aug.

First Era: The early browsers (1991-1994)

'96), which supported mouseovers and a few

other features. These browsers all were

The WWW was invented in 1991 and at first

market leaders in their heydays. Netscape 3,

was rather geeky. The first browsers,

in particular, became a touchstone of

invented simultaneously, was text-only. Then

excellency. Any other browser had to at least

Mosaic 1 (Nov '93) hit the market, and it

support everything Netscape 3 supported to

supported images. This was such a huge

be taken seriously.

step forward that it quickly took over the

(rather small) browser market of its day.

Microsoft

Since I didn't live through this Era I can't

And then the Internet went BOOM.

really tell the story.

Microsoft hadn't been seriously interested in
Second Era: Netscape dominance (1994-

the Internet up until this time. The beginning

1997)

Internet boom showed it the error of its ways

and it made up for lost time quite fast.

After Mosaic came Netscape 1 (Dec. '94).

Netscape took over the (still rather small)

Microsoft, too, needed a browser. It started

browser market at one stroke. It was a much

out with another Mosaic version and

improved version of Mosaic, supporting

produced Internet Explorer. It's best to draw a

multiple TCP/IP connections, cookies and the

merciful veil over Explorer 1 and 2 (Aug. and

<CENTER> tag.

Nov. '95), but with Explorer 3 (Aug. '96)

Microsoft produced its first decent browser. It

Its mother company, Netscape

wasn't quite up to Netscape 3 standards

Communications Corporation, asked money

(mouseovers, especially, were lacking), but to

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make up for it Explorer 3 was the very first

that it should be possible to change the CSS

browser to support CSS, until then an almost

of a Web page in the browser itself. Hence

unknown technique.

both browsers incorporated DHTML, the

changing of CSS by means of JavaScript.

Having a browser of its own meant nothing

without marketing, though. Microsoft's first

Back then, the de facto JavaScript standard

move was to make Explorer freely available

was Netscape 3's implementation. DHTML,

to anyone, unlike Netscape, which still

however, called for an extension of the

charged a modest sum for the use of its

browsers' Document Object Model. Not

browser.

surprisingly, both vendors decided to extend

JavaScript on their own and paid no attention

Explorer's market share grew, but it didn't

to each other's efforts.

even come closes to Netscape's. The main

reason was that the Internet was still

The contenders

moderately geeky at that point. The average

user knew a little bit about browsers, and had

In general Microsoft made much better

often heard the name Netscape. Added to its

decisions than Netscape. First of all it rewrote

technical superiority, this ensured continuing

its browser from scratch, so that it wasn't

Netscape dominance for the moment.

encumbered by legacy code any more.

Conversely, Netscape tried to add the new

Third Era: The Browser Wars (1997-1999)

features on top of Netscape 3's code engine,

a decision that was to have grave

It was clear that Netscape and Microsoft were

consequences.

heading for a clash, and they needed new

technologies to support their marketing efforts

Secondly, Microsoft's DHTML implementation

and give their browser a decisive advantage

was targeted at web designers and

over the other. At the very tail end of the

developers knowing little of programming,

Second Era W3C, then largely an unknown

while Netscape's implementation was more

factor, had published its CSS 1 specification,

geared towards geeky programmers who

in which it laid the groundwork for separating

wanted complicated structures for the sake of

content from presentation. This was

complicated structures.

interesting.
Besides, Explorer supported one important
On its own, though, CSS wasn't quite sexy

feature that Netscape didn't (and couldn't)

enough. Neither browser vendor thought a

support: Explorer could reflow the page.

bunch of background colours and borders

When you use DHTML to, for instance,

would be convincing enough to win the

remove an HTML element from the page, all

upcoming war. Both came to the conclusion

subsequent elements should 'flow up' to

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occupy the space left by the removed

easily distribute its browser, too, by simply

element. The lack of reflowing ability was the

including it in the OS.

ultimate cause of Netscape's bag of tricks

being far more limited than Explorer's.

And that's exactly what happened.

Nonetheless, this fact alone doesn't explain

So in hindsight Explorer was a much better

the huge growth of Explorer's market share. If

browser than Netscape. It supported CSS1

the WWW had remained confined to the

far better than Netscape, and its DOM

semi-geeky 1995 community, many users

implementation was distinctly superior, too.

would have laughingly trashed Explorer and

Remember there were no DOM standards in

used Netscape on their new computers.

those days, it was every browser for itself and

God for them all (or, more accurately, for

However, when new users, attracted by the

none of them).

hype, bought a new computer, they wanted

'the Internet installed on it', no hassle, no

Back in 1997, though, few people saw this.

downloads. Of course just double-clicking on

Netscape 4 (June '97) was released slightly

an icon and starting to surf is much easier

earlier than Explorer 4 (Oct. '97) and its

than downloading another program and

documentation has always been far better

installing it.

than Microsoft's. Besides, Netscape had a

large and very vocal community of defenders

Finally, the new users were unencumbered

(among which myself, in those days), while

by WWW mythology and did not know

initially Explorer hadn't.

Netscape's name. Not only didn't they miss it,

they didn't even know there was something to

So right at the beginning of the Browser Wars

be missed.

the honours were roughly equal, though

Netscape still held the market in thrall. That

Not that they really missed something.

was about to change, though.

Netscape 4 showed more and more odd

bugs.

The offensive
Explorer soared, mainly thanks to new users.
Microsoft had one huge advantage over

Netscape's only answer was to remove the

Netscape: it did more than just making

price tag from its browser. Nice, but this

browsers. For instance, it made operating

action removed its main source of income

systems, too, and rather profitable ones. Not

and turned out not to be the answer. It also

only could Microsoft easily pay for the

announced it would open the source of its

development of a free browser, but the

browser, of which more later.

popularity of its OS made sure that it could

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The noncombatants

The end

Even during the Browser Wars there were

When Microsoft came with Explorer 5 for

other browsers besides Netscape and

Windows (March '99), it became clear

Explorer. Of these Opera 3 (Dec. '97) was the

Explorer was not only winning the Browser

most important. Although in JavaScript

Wars, it deserved to win them. Explorer 5

support it remained at Netscape 3 level until

was the first browser to support large parts of

December 2000, the very tail end of the

the W3C DOM, boasted CSS support far

Browser Wars, it had (and has) several

superior to anything Netscape could offer,

advantages over its competitors.

and was generally received favourably.

First of all its CSS support has always been

In contrast, the continuous streams of bugs

excellent. Since Opera's CTO Hkon Wium

that burst forth from Netscape 4's bowels was

Lie is one of the writers of the CSS specs this

too much to bear even for the most orthodox

is not surprising. Secondly, Opera has always

Netscapist. A new version of the browser was

been a very light browser, both to download

mandatory if Netscape were to retain even a

and to run, and therefore excellently suited

sliver of market share. Unfortunately the code

for older systems.

engine was already working very badly and it

could not possibly handle another major

During the Browser Wars Opera gained some

update.

market share, but stayed around 0.1%, not

particularly much. Nonetheless it kept itself in

So the ancient Mozilla code engine had to be

the public eye, which considering its

rewritten. Netscape had already opened the

competitors was no mean feat. It didn't

source of its browser (Jan. '98) and called on

exactly thrive, but it wasn't a flash in the pan

developers from all over the world to create a

either.

new, better browser. The Mozilla Project was

born.

In the US, but not elsewhere, the specialized

WebTV browser also gained some market

This didn't help a bit in the short run. Explorer

share. It was meant to browse the WWW

didn't merely win the Browser Wars, it

from a TV and cruelly suffered from the

trampeled its opponent, and then stomped on

limitations of this medium. TV screens are far

the bits for good measure.

narrower than computer screens, have odd

colours and are generally not fit to show a

Fourth Era: Explorer dominance (1999-

web site designed for a computer.

2003)

Nonetheless WebTV had some modest

success. It was eventually bought by
Microsoft, that has continued to improve it.

Thus ended the Heroic Age and came the

Fourth Era, which is characterized by little

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action on the browser front and a boring sort

a major upgrade, all in all, but version 7 (Jan.

of bourgeois respectability. There are several

'03) has taken another major step.

reasons, the most important being that

neither Microsoft nor the Mozilla Project

The surprise of the Fourth Era was newcomer

released new browsers that extended

Konqueror (Nov. '00). It was a wholly

technical frontiers.

independent browser, originally for Linux

only, that had excellent support for all modern

Sure, Microsoft released Explorer 5.5 (July

technologies. When Apple created its own

'00) and 6 (Oct. '01), but these releases didn't

browser, it took the Konqueror libraries as a

offer any radically new functionality, just

starting point.

incremental updates of CSS and the DOM.

Nonetheless Microsoft at least showed some

Fifth Era: What's next?

activity, something that couldn't be said of the

sad remains of its competitor.

The release of Safari (first beta Jan. '03),

based on the Konqueror libraries, spells the

Microsoft surprised the web development

end of the Fourth and the beginning of the

community by Explorer 5 on Mac (March '00)

Fifth Era. Microsoft's hegemony on Mac has

which had the best CSS support of the

been broken beyond repair. On Windows it

moment. Unfortunately this browser was

plays a waiting game, but Explorer 7 will only

never really improved after its initial release,

appear in conjunction with the new OS

and nowadays it is distinctly behind the

rumoured to be released in 2005 (which

competition.

probably means 2006 or 2007).

It took the Mozilla Project nearly two and a

Many web developers are sick of Explorer

half years to reach the vaguely alpha-ish

Windows, which hasn't had a major update in

Milestone 17 (Aug. '00), and though the

four years and is distinctly the worst modern

geeks saw that a brave new browser was

browser CSS-wise (though not in W3C DOM

approaching, it wasn't what you'd call a good

support, there it takes second place after

piece of software for general consumer

Mozilla).

usage. It took another year a half to produce

Mozilla 1.0 (May '02). The world didn't care
quite as much as expected.

I wrote an analysis of the browser market at

the beginning of the Fifth Era, Browser Wars
II: The Saga Continues on Evolt. It contains

After the disastrous version 4 (June '00)

some tips for web developers who wish to

Opera seemed to have lost the way.

break Microsoft's hegemony.

Fortunately it came back to the right track

with Opera 5 (Dec. '00), though still behind its

What's next? Time will tell.

competitors. Opera 6 (Nov. '01) was not really

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