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NCSA Mosaic
(1993 - 1997)
- 6 downloads
The browser that started it all. NCSA Mosaic was the first web browser to display images inline with text, making the World Wide Web accessible to non-technical users. Developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications by Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina.
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Netscape Navigator
(1994 - 2008)
- 11 downloads
Born from the ashes of NCSA Mosaic, Netscape Navigator defined the early commercial web. Created by Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark, it introduced JavaScript, cookies, frames, and SSL - technologies that still underpin the web today. At its peak, Netscape held over 80% browser market share.
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Internet Explorer
(1995 - 2022)
- 7 downloads
Microsoft's weapon in the browser wars. Licensed from Spyglass Mosaic and bundled free with Windows, Internet Explorer eventually achieved over 95% market share. Its deep OS integration was both its greatest strength and the basis of a landmark antitrust case.
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Opera
(1995)
- 6 downloads
The scrappy underdog from Norway. Opera pioneered tabbed browsing, mouse gestures, speed dial, and popup blocking years before the competition. Originally shareware, it went free (ad-supported) in 2000 and fully free in 2005. Always small, always fast, always innovating.
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Safari
(2003)
- 0 downloads
Apple's WebKit-based browser, built on the KHTML engine from KDE's Konqueror. Safari brought standards compliance and speed to the Mac. WebKit later became the foundation for Google Chrome and virtually every mobile browser.
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Mozilla Firefox
(2004)
- 0 downloads
Rising from the open-sourced Netscape codebase, Firefox (originally Phoenix, then Firebird) reignited the browser wars. Its launch in 2004 broke IE's monopoly with tabbed browsing, popup blocking, and extensions. The browser that proved open source could beat corporate giants.
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