IBM Web Explorer
Encyclopedia
IBM WebExplorer was an early web browser
designed at IBM
facilities in the Research Triangle Park
for OS/2
.
in their November issue and leveraged its position as the only native browser in OS/2 at that time. It was based on the Mosaic
web browser and was a coming attraction in The HTML Sourcebook: The Complete Guide to HTML. Almost immediately after the introduction of OS/2 Warp version 3, IBM dismantled the development team and that relegated the WebExplorer to the annals of history. IBM WebExplorer, at that time, was the browser application to beat. OS/2 Warp 4 (1996) included it, but also included a link to download an OS/2 version of Netscape Navigator
2.02, which was late for shipping on CD. IBM had already planned the substitution of WebExplorer.
and the installation of plugins like Java was complicated.
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
designed at IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
facilities in the Research Triangle Park
Research Triangle Park
The Research Triangle Park is a research park in the United States. It is located near Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill, in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina...
for OS/2
OS/2
OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal...
.
History
Presented in 1994 with OS/2 Warp (v3), it was hailed as the best browser by Internet MagazineInternet Magazine
Internet Magazine was a monthly print title launched in October 1994 by the UK publishing house, Emap. Its last issue, number 119, was published in July 2004.-History:...
in their November issue and leveraged its position as the only native browser in OS/2 at that time. It was based on the Mosaic
Mosaic (web browser)
Mosaic is the web browser credited with popularizing the World Wide Web. It was also a client for earlier protocols such as FTP, NNTP, and gopher. Its clean, easily understood user interface, reliability, Windows port and simple installation all contributed to making it the application that opened...
web browser and was a coming attraction in The HTML Sourcebook: The Complete Guide to HTML. Almost immediately after the introduction of OS/2 Warp version 3, IBM dismantled the development team and that relegated the WebExplorer to the annals of history. IBM WebExplorer, at that time, was the browser application to beat. OS/2 Warp 4 (1996) included it, but also included a link to download an OS/2 version of Netscape Navigator
Netscape Navigator
Netscape Navigator was a proprietary web browser that was popular in the 1990s. It was the flagship product of the Netscape Communications Corporation and the dominant web browser in terms of usage share, although by 2002 its usage had almost disappeared...
2.02, which was late for shipping on CD. IBM had already planned the substitution of WebExplorer.
Features
- Support for HTMLHTMLHyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
3.0 (with tables) - Usenet reader
- Some of its parts could be reused in other programs and scripted with RexxREXXREXX is an interpreted programming language that was developed at IBM. It is a structured high-level programming language that was designed to be both easy to learn and easy to read...
. Some external companies used this capability to offer an enhanced browser with IBM's rendering engine - A page could define what the animated throbberThrobberA throbber is a graphic found in a graphical user interface of a computer program that animates to show the user that the program is performing an action .-Typical characteristics:...
should look like. It was implemented through a non-standardHTML tag. OS/2 users created several animations. The later introduction of web frames Framing (World Wide Web)When using web browsers, the terms frames or frameset refer to the display of two or more web pages or media elements displayed side-by-side within the same browser window...
leads WebExplorer to confusion on modern pages - A presentation mode without visible menu bars
- A menu option Links collecting all the links in the page. It was used by IBM VoiceType for voice navigation
- Java appletJava appletA Java applet is an applet delivered to users in the form of Java bytecode. Java applets can run in a Web browser using a Java Virtual Machine , or in Sun's AppletViewer, a stand-alone tool for testing applets...
s - GIF support
- Proxy authenticationProxy serverIn computer networks, a proxy server is a server that acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. A client connects to the proxy server, requesting some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource available from a different server...
- Image mapImage mapIn HTML and XHTML , an image map is a list of coordinates relating to a specific image, created in order to hyperlink areas of the image to various destinations . For example, a map of the world may have each country hyperlinked to further information about that country...
Version history
There were severals builds released by IBM. IBM released some beta builds and also fixed many bugs in WebExplorer, one beta including support for Java.Criticism
The browser doesn't support FramesFraming (World Wide Web)
When using web browsers, the terms frames or frameset refer to the display of two or more web pages or media elements displayed side-by-side within the same browser window...
and the installation of plugins like Java was complicated.
External links
- The official page at IBM (version from 1999 at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
). - The IBM OS/2 WebExplorer
- IBM WebExplorer is mentioned in United States v. MicrosoftUnited States v. MicrosoftUnited States v. Microsoft was a set of civil actions filed against Microsoft Corporation pursuant to the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 Section 1 and 2 on May 8, 1998 by the United States Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states. Joel I. Klein was the lead prosecutor...
.
Downloads
- version 1.1 at browsers.evolt.org
- version 1.03b
- version 1.1b
- version 1.1d
- version 1.1e
- version 1.1f
- version 1.1g
- version 1.1h alternate