Mosaic, world’s first web browser turns 20
The web as you know it today with images, full functionality and endless opportunities to source anything and everything – has turned 20.
Programmer Marc Andreessen released Mosaic in January 1993 and was credited with making the Internet accessible for the masses. Although Mosaic wasn’t the first graphical web browser, it was hailed as the most popular browser of its time and is still used as a model for today’s browsers.
Mosaic paved the way for modern day browsers such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox. Prior to Mosaic, images and text were displayed seperately, each were shown in its own window and simple luxuries such as navigation buttons and bookmarking tools didn’t exist.
Then one day in 1993, Mosaic was unleashed and to the general public (for free) and new web browsing possibilities were realised.
Danny Powell, NCSA’s current executive director welcomed the anniversary with an announcement.
“NCSA Mosaic was available for free, and soon thousands of copies were being downloaded each month. It quickly moved beyond the research and education niche and became the first ‘killer app,'”
Mosaic is still available for use, visit Archive.org.
