|
| Platforms |
Macintosh: 68K, Power Mac
PC: Win95, 3.X, NT [Intel and Alpha], OS/2
Unix: AIX, BSDI, HP-UX, IRIX, Linux, OSF, Sparc Solaris, SunOS
VMS: VAX, Alpha |
About the
Browser |
In mid-1994, Silicon Graphics founder
Jim Clark collaborated with Marc Andreessen to found Mosaic Communications
(later renamed to Netscape Communications.) Andreessen had just graduated
from the University of Illinois, where he had been the leader of a certain
software project known as "Mosaic". By this time, the Mosaic browser was
starting to make splashes outside of the academic circles where it had
begun, and both men saw the great potential for web browsing software.
Within a brief half-year period, many of the original folk from the NCSA
Mosaic project were working for Netscape, and a browser was released to
the public.
Netscape quickly became a success, and the overwhelming market share
it soon had was due to many factors, not the least of which was its break-neck
pace of software releases (a new term was soon coined - "internet time"
- which described the incredible pace at which browsers and the web were
moving.) It also created and innovated at an incredible pace. New HTML
capabilities in the form of "extensions" to the language were introduced.
Since these capabilities were often flashier than what other run-of-the-mill
browsers could produce, Netscape's browser helped cement their own dominance.
By the summer of 1995, it was a good bet that if you were browsing the
Internet, you were doing so with a Netscape browser - by some accounts
Netscape had as much as an 80%+ market share.
With the launch of Windows 95 and a web browser of its own (Internet
Explorer) in August 1995, Microsoft began an effort to challenge Netscape.
For quite a while, Internet Explorer played catch-up to Netscape's continual
pushing of the browsing technological envelope, but with one major advantage:
unlike Netscape, Internet Explorer was free of charge. Netscape version
2.0 introduced a bevy of must-have breakthrough features (frames, Java,
Javascript and Plug-ins) which helped distance it from the pack, even *with*
its attendant price tag. Mid-1995 to late-1996 was a very busy time for
both browsers; it seemed like every week one company or the other was releasing
a new beta or final version to the public, each seemingly trying to one-up
the other.
But slowly, Internet Explorer gained market share ground. By the fourth
generations of both browsers, Internet Explorer had caught up technologically
with Netscape's browser. As time went on, Netscape's market share diminished
from its once-towering percentages.
In January 1998, Netscape made an announcement that their browser would
thereafter be free, and also that the development of the browser would
move to an open-source process. This came as wonderful news to many on
the Internet. In the period since this announcement though, an official
browser from this "Mozilla" process has yet to see general public release.
The process has taken much longer than originally anticipated, what with
the Netscape/AOL merger and the late-hour decision to integrate an entirely
new next-generation HTML rendering engine.
Even with the tantalizing promise for authors of finally having a wide-distribution
browser that completely adheres to the official language standards for
HTML, CSS, DOM and ECMAScript, the market-share that Netscape once held
has significantly eroded (by some accounts its market share is now down
to around 30%.) It has been almost 3 years since Netscape delivered a major
new version of its browser. It shall be interesting to see how the public
takes to Netscape version 6.0. |
|
| Version |
Released |
Features |
|
|
|
| 1.0B1 |
Oct. 1994 |
The First Beta of version 1. The original release of the
browser supports all basic HTML 2 elements and some limited HTML 3 functionality. |
| 1.0 |
Dec. 1994 |
Final Release of version 1.0 |
|
| 1.1B1 |
Mar. 1995 |
The first Beta of version 1.1 added table support as well
as many of its own new HTML elements and attributes. |
| 1.1 |
Apr. 1995 |
Final Release of version 1.1 |
|
| 1.2B1 |
Jun. 1995 |
First Beta of version 1.2 which updated the user interface
for Windows 95 and added no new HTML support. |
| 1.2 |
Jul. 1995 |
Final Release of version 1.2 |
|
| 2.0B1 |
Oct. 1995 |
First Beta of the Navigator release added several HTML 3
elements, Frames and the ability to handle Java. |
| 2.0B3 |
Dec. 1995 |
This version added the ability to process JavaScript |
| 2.0 |
Mar. 1996 |
Final Release of version 2.0 |
|
| 3.0B1 |
Apr. 1996 |
First Beta which was originally titled Atlas, this release
added many new plug-ins, and support for background colors in tables. |
| 3.0B5 |
Jul. 1996 |
This version adds support for underlining, frame border
control and Font FACE styles. It also adds new elements to allow for column
layout (<Multicol>) and spacing control (<Spacer>) |
| 3.0B7 |
Aug. 1996 |
The only new HTML feature in this version appears to be
the ARCHIVE attribute to the APPLET element. |
| 3.0-3.04 |
Aug. 1996-
Oct. 1997 |
Final Release of version 3. Point releases beyond this add
no new HTML support, just address Javascript functionality and security
bugs. |
|
| 4.0B1 |
Dec. 1996 |
Preview release of 4.0 (Netscape Communicator.) This adds
the new LAYER element that allows precise positioning control in documents. |
| 4.0B2 |
Feb. 1997 |
Second preview release of 4.0 (Netscape Communicator.) This
adds in-line layering, and Cascading/JavaScript Style Sheet Support. |
| 4.0B3 |
Apr. 1997 |
Third preview release of 4.0 (Netscape Communicator.) Improves
upon the very rudimentary style sheet support in Beta 2 (PR2.) |
| 4.0B4/5 |
May. 1997 |
Fourth and fifth beta of 4.0. Beta 4 was a PC-only release
with minor HTML improvements, while Beta 5 is cross-platform and adds the
Netcaster push technology. |
| 4.0-4.08 |
Jun. 1997-
Nov. 1998 |
Final Release of Communicator. Final tally adds more CSS
support (much but not all of the CSS1 spec and the CSS positioning draft
are implemented), minimal dynamic font and OBJECT element support. Point
releases beyond this add no new HTML support, just address security bugs. |
|
|
Jan. 1998 |
Netscape announces its browser will be free.
Also announced: Browser source code will be made available for free
on the Internet. |
|
| 4.5B1 |
Jul. 1998 |
Various functionality improvements, but no new HTML or CSS
support. |
| 4.5B2 |
Sep. 1998 |
Beta 2. |
| 4.5-4.7 |
Oct. 1998-
Sep. 1999 |
4.5 final release. Point releases beyond this
add no new HTML support, just address bugs. |
|
|
Nov. 1998 |
Netscape decides to integrate its new NGLayout
rendering engine into Mozilla (v.6.0)
AOL Buys Netscape. |
|
Jan. 2000 |
Mozilla project hits Milestone 13 (M13) - considered
to be first "alpha" quality release of the project. |
|
| 6.0B1 |
Apr. 2000 |
Netscape/AOL releases 6.0 PR1 - its first all
new beta browser in several years. This release integrates the Mozilla
code approximately from the Milestone 14 (M14) work. |
| 6.0B2 |
Aug. 2000 |
Netscape/AOL releases 6.0 PR2. This release integrates
the Mozilla work from ~ the Milestone 17 (M17) timeframe. |
| 6.0B3 |
Oct. 2000 |
Netscape/AOL releases 6.0 PR3. This release integrates
the Mozilla work from ~ the Milestone 18 (M18) timeframe. |
| 6.0 |
Nov. 2000 |
Final release of version 6.0. |
|