April 22, 1993: Mosaic Browser Released – Internet Taken By Storm
April 22, 1993: Mosaic Browser Released
How we access the internet… Mosaic, is the web browser credited with popularizing the World Wide Web.
Mosaic was the first browser to display images inline with text rather than displaying images in a separate window. Imagine that! It was named for its support of multiple internet protocols. Plus it had an intuitive interface with a high degree of reliability. Its simple installation and Windows port contributed to its popularity.
While often described as the first graphical web browser, Mosaic was proceeded by WorldWideWeb and the lesser known Erwise and ViolaWWW.
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications released version 1.0 of the Mosaic Web Browser. Marc Andreesen (one of the future founders of Netscape) and Jim Clark were the lead developers. Eric J. Bina also a co-creator of Mosaic and co-founder of Netscape along with Andreessen authored the first version of Mosaic. The browser would take the internet by storm and continue to lead until 1998 when Internet Explorer and Netscape came on the scene.
Marc Andreessen
Eric Bina
Jim Clark
In the October 1994 issue of Wired, Gary Wolfe notes:
When it comes to smashing a paradigm, pleasure is not the most important thing. It is the only thing. If this sounds wrong, consider Mosaic. Mosaic is the celebrated graphical “browser” that allows users to travel through the world of electronic information using a point-and-click interface.
Mosaic’s charming appearance encourages users to load their own documents onto the Net, including color photos, sound bites, video clips, and hypertext “links” to other documents. By following the links – click, and the linked document appears – you can travel through the online world along paths of whim and intuition.
Mosaic is not the most direct way to find online information. Nor is it the most powerful. It is merely the most pleasurable way, and in the 18 months since it was released, Mosaic has incited a rush of excitement and commercial energy unprecedented in the history of the Net.
Twenty years after Mosaic’s introduction, the most popular contemporary browsers, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox retain many of the characteristics of the original Mosaic graphical user interface (GUI) and interactive experience.
A Glimpse of the Future (a glimpse of our past). This video was created to help promote the use of the internet
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