National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), University of Illinois
One of NCSA's missions -- aid scientific research community by producing widely available, non-commercial software
NCSA's Software Design Group -- produced versatile, multi-platform interface to World-Wide Web -- called it Mosaic
Mosaic was created during a four-month period in late 1992 and early 1993 by Marc Andreessen and colleagues. Wrote thousands of lines of code -- "all-nighters, chocolate-chip cookies, milk, Skittles, and Mountain Dew".
Marc left University of Illinois. Today, 27-year-old Andreessen is vice president for technology of Netscape Communications.
Early, 1993 -- first version of NCSA's Web browser Mosaic made available to Internet community
Due to easy, point-and-click hypermedia interface, Mosaic set standard for Web interfaces
Currently versions of Mosaic running on Unix-based workstations, Macintoshes, PCs running Microsoft Windows, ....
First version of Netscape available October, 1994
Continuous document streaming, enabling users to view documents while they are still being downloaded rather than waiting for the entire document to load
Available for Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh, and X Window System environments
Netscape has been responsible for advances in HTML as well
For more information: http://home.netscape.com/
Both Mosaic and Netscape (like most Web browsers) must be run on Internet node
For a PC or workstation connected as a terminal to an Internet node, this requires TCP/IP through SLIP or PPP software
Lynx is a World-Wide Web browser that displays only characters -- no graphics, no audio
Lynx must be run on Internet node
Lynx is useful for terminals, PCs, or MACs connected to Internet systems via modems with no SLIP/PPP (TCP/IP) access
Academic Computing Services, University of Kansas
For more information link to http://www.cc.ukans.edu /about_lynx /about_lynx.html
Developed specifically for use with Windows 95 operating system
New HTML Extensions -- Marquees, AVI (Audio Video Interleave) inline video clips, selectable fonts, background sounds
Support for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and RSA encryption technology
E-mail support integrated with Exchange Inbox included in Windows 95, so all mail can be viewed from same location
Mail package also supports Internet MIME standard for multimedia mail
VRML (Virtual Reality Modelling Language) ready -- Internet Explorer will have 3-D viewer
HTTP-KeepAlive -- Open and download multiple items over same HTTP connection instead of opening new connection for each file -- since most Web pages are made up of several files from same server
Download status indicator -- When you minimize Internet Explorer during download, icon changes to give status indicator on progress of download
Internet Explorer is part of Microsoft Internet Jumpstart Kit and Microsoft Plus!
Various viewers (for example, RealAudio Player) already integrated