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Web tools have evolved to the point that the term "to browse" is completely irrelevant. You no longer merely visit Web sites; you are actively engaged and entertained. Entire communities have migrated into cyberspace, creating habitats and realities seperate from the real world. Thanks to the efforts of companies big and small, you can now travel through three-dimensional Web environments, make long-distance phone calls, talk with your friends in a chat room while seeing them live in an another window on your screen, and listen to music in realtime while watching full-length streaming movies and video clips as they're downloading to your computer.
Most specialized features of the Web require the use of additional software -- called "plug-ins " or "applets" -- that run in conjunction with your Web browser. Java , by Sun Microsystems, allows Web designers to write applications that run directly inside a browser. The problem used to be that these applets required more than the average amount of RAM, but this is no longer the case.
Today, the most RAM-intensive processes occur inside your pc itself, running the myriad of programs and services required to support your pc and it's many applications you have installed on it. Today's web browser's have been significantly streamlined and optimized to reduce the overhead on a pc's RAM. Newer, faster motherboards and cpu's have been designed to absorb the load of power and bandwidth that large applications require, thereby increasing the speed of internet related activities.
Tim Berners-Lee pioneered the use of hypertext for sharing information and created the first web browser, named WorldWideWeb in 1990. He introduced it to colleagues at CERN in March 1991. Since then the development of web browsers has been inseparably intertwined with the development of the web itself.
The web browser was originally designed as an application to handle CERN's huge telephone book. However, it was the later integration of graphics into the web browser that made it the "killer application" of the internet.
In 1993, a graphical browser was released called Mosaic. Originally built for a Unix platform, it soon supported the platforms of both MAC and Windows. Marc Andreessen, who was the leader of the Mosaic team, quit to form a company that would later become known as Netscape Communications Corporation.
Netscape released its flagship 'Navigator' in October 1994. Microsoft, which so far had not marketed a browser, now released 'Internet Explorer', purchased from Spyglass Inc. Then began what is known as the browser wars, the fight for web browser dominance between Microsoft and Netscape.
Microsoft and Netscape incorporated their own versions of HTML into their products, trying to gain an edge over their competitor. Starting with the acceptance of the Microsoft proposed Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) over Netscape's JavaScript Style Sheets (JSSS) by W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), the Netscape browser began to be considered inferior to IE version after version due to feature for feature comparisons. However, Microsoft was also edging a market share by bundling it's browser with it's operating system. Microsoft eventually faced antitrust litigation on these issues.
Today's Internet Browser's now share a common thread imposed on them by the W3C, which are "STANDARDS". With only a minority of exceptions, all browser's now employ the same basic code and scripting languages, as well as the ability to support 3rd party extensions and plug-ins. This strategy has helped user's in several ways - by taking the power away from the corporate marketing guru's and putting it back into the hands of the computer user. YOU as a consumer are now the driving force in how browser's and web applications are being developed. The demand from users for a more interactive and dynamic web experience has led to such innovations as AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML), which provides a very rich user interface while still providing server interaction. Such practices, called Extreme Programming, are streamlining the entire website design process from a simple graphical HTML-based interface into a team-driven, server-side, scripting and logic based customer oriented business.
So now, when you fire up your computer and open your browser, your options are literally endless. Where WILL you go today? Have some friends you'd like to chat with? Watch a movie? Find some music? Or do you have productivity in mind? The web has become much more than just a place for people to "surf" around in. E-commerce sites such as E-bay, Amazon, and Walmart offer secure ways for people to, in some ways, never leave their house. And while internet shopping can be a huge time-saver for many, for others it's still just a way to compare items before heading to the store. With today's browsers ability to provide safe and secure transactions for credit card purchases and internet banking, the average user literally can avoid going to most businesses for what used to be routine and time consuming tasks. Heck, you can even purchase your groceries online in some areas! |