The Browser Wars: How It Got Started & What It’s Like Today
What most people are referring to when they talk about “The Browser Wars” was a period from the mid-90s into the early 2000’s when the Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers were competing for market share.
This is considered the “First Browser Wars”, and it is also the most notable.
The reason this period was so notable is that Web standards were not well established. This means that the browsers had many incompatibilities with each other.
Netscape and Microsoft were trying to outdo each other by adding incompatible, proprietary features to their browser in an effort to wow users and gain market share.
This was a huge strain on Web developers and designers.
At one point around 1997, it became so bad that most developers would create two separate versions of their site:
One for Netscape and one for IE.
Some sites would even have banners on their site saying something like “For best viewing experience, please use Netscape” and would essentially forget the other browser or give it a downgraded experience.
The First Browser Wars came to an end when Microsoft made the decision to include IE (Internet Explorer) with new installations of Windows.
Windows 90%+ OS market share pretty much made this the last nail in the coffin of Netscape.
Before, they were on equal grounds, since a newly installed copy of Windows had no browser so both had the opportunity of gaining that user.
But once IE came with Windows, the majority of users would not go out seeking a new browser since they did not even know that was an option.
Internet Explorer's (IE) market share soared after this and by the early 2000s Internet Explorer had gained over 90% market share.
Below is a summary of Browser Wars from 1993 to date (Desktop Web Browsers)
1993 — Mosaic
The first graphical web browser
Mosaic brought the web to life with inline images and links.
1994 — Netscape Navigator
Launched at $49 with a 90-day trial
1995 — Internet Explorer
IE launched as a free add-on to Windows 95
1995 — Opera
Launched to the public as trialware
1996 — Marc Andreessen co-founded both, Mosaic and Netscape
1997 — Netscape held 70% of the market but IE being free and part of Windows was gaining fast.
This forced Netscape to become freeware.
1998 — Microsoft was taken to court for violating antitrust laws
1999 — America Online acquired Netscape for $4.2 billion dollars
2000 — Microsoft was found guilty and decided to split IE from Windows
2001 — IE was the official winner of the first browser war
2002 — Firefox Beta launched
Originally called Phoenix, then Firebird
2003 — Safari 1.0 released by Apple
2004 — Firefox 1.0 was finally released to the public
2005 — Free Opera Opera browser becomes freeware
2006 — IE 7.0 Microsoft reintegrated IE into Windows
2008 — Netscape Ends Netscape Navigator is discontinued after version 9
2008 — Chrome 1.0
Google releases Chrome
2009 — Mobile Web Mobile browsers and apps start reducing desktop use.
2010 — Firefox 3.6 Firefox introduces the Personas theme engine with version 3.6
2011 — IE 9 Introduced a new interface
2012 — Chrome overtakes IE
2013 — IE 11 Final version of IE
2014 — Opera 19 Introduced Workspaces feature to organize tabs
2015 — Edge Microsoft launches Edge to replace IE
2016 — Opera 40 Launches with free VPN & battery saver mode
2017 — Firefox 55 Included VR capability
2018 — Opera 50 Included an anti-Bitcoin mining tool
2019 — Firefox 70 Featured Dark Mode & Tracker Blocker
2020 — Edge Microsoft introduced Chromium-based Edge and a new logo.
2021 — Chrome Google begins the development of an alternative to cookies to protect user privacy.
So in summary, this was a very difficult time for the Web as a whole.
As a Web Developer, my default browser for working on my projects is Google Chrome because of its synchronization option and ease of use.
I have lots of other browsers but they are mainly for testing my projects.
So, What is your favorite desktop browser?
Let us know in the comment section, which one you often work with and your reasons.
