Imagine Internet without web browser!

MUMBAI, INDIA: Recently, Internet completed 40 years of its evolution – an evolution that revolutionized the way we communicate. By creating a global village out of the world, by breaking all the geographical boundaries, the Internet, over the years, has brought a major revolution across the information and communication technologies (ICT) field.

This 40-year-long journey has been incredible. Right from the early days at the US Defense Department moving to business arena and into people’s homes and now on mobile devices.

However, this Internet journey wouldn’t have been so easy and smooth without the creation of the web application, popularly known as Internet browser, that made the Internet user experience (UX) extremely simple among not just techies but also novice people.

Though the browser application is relatively a small program, the role it has played is phenomenal. Just imagine diving into the deep sea of the world wide web without a browser – be it Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), Google Chrome, Apple Safari or Mozilla FireFox.

The early days of browser belonged to Netscape and Microsoft IE, where both companies tried to win over each other by pushing their browser applications among the early Internet user community. Unfortunately, Netscape’s application, which was an open source based, couldn’t survive long enough as the company itself couldn’t sustain its business.

Microsoft bundled the Internet Explorer application with its Windows operating system, and still continues to do so, thus raising its share in browser application space. This way it has played major role in increasing the popularity of Internet.

Microsoft probably is among the very few companies that has closely witnessed the Internet’s evolution and also has shared space in the growth with developing newer versions of browser application with time.

“The first version of Internet Explorer was only slightly more than one megabyte in size, and didn't really do that much apart from helping you surf the Internet. Much that we take for granted now wasn't supported, be it the ability to read newsgroups, display graphics, or access dynamic content such as video or music files,” said G. Ramesh, Microsoft India’s director – Windows Client Business Group.

“Internet Explorer 2 was the first cross platform browser to support both Windows and Mac. It also introduced support for javascript, frames, Secure Socket Layer (SSL), cookies and newsgroups (NNTP). Since then the platform has evolved to help users use the web in whatever form best suited to them,” added Ramesh.

From a technology stand point, the browser application is the interface between the user and the Internet. The browser has a greater share in giving the unique user experience while accessing the net.

According to Ramesh, every person has a web experience that is uniquely his or her own, where a person may use a particular place to find recipes, another for news articles, another for definitions and yet another for mapping information.

“For instance, a person may use Windows Live Mail and Yahoo Maps, and another may use a different combination of services. Blurring the lines between those services and the browser and making the relationship more seamless can make those experiences faster and more powerful,” explained Ramesh.

Today’s Internet is full of rich dynamic media content with graphics and multimedia. And, Microsoft has successfully adapted to the demands of Internet by using various technologies and tools, incorporating them in building Internet Explorer’s newer versions.

“Internet Explorer 8, the next version of the world’s most popular browser has been built from the ground up to be the best browser for the way people really use the web,” said Ramesh.

“Faster, easier, and safer than ever before, IE8 optimizes developer and end-user experiences to provide a window to the web of online services. Moreover, IE 8 offers new features and functionality that enables people to reach beyond the page in a number of faster, easier, and more secure ways,” he concluded.