Jon Mittelhauser
Encyclopedia
Jon E. Mittelhauser is considered a founding father of the web browser
.
In 1993, as a graduate student at the University of Illinois, he co-wrote NCSA Mosaic for Windows with fellow student Chris Wilson while working at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications
(NCSA)http://www.w3.org/People.html. Mittelhauser was part of the original team of 5 programmers of Mosaic which included: Marc Andreessen
(Unix version), Eric Bina
(Unix version), Aleks Totic (Mac version) and Chris Wilson (Windows version). The MS Windows version which Mittelhauser and Wilson wrote was the first browser with over a million downloads and is often pointed to as the first widely used web browser.
Mittelhauser attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, graduating from there with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science in 1992 and a Master's degree in 1994.
In May 1994, Mittelhauser left the University of Illinois and was one of the founders of Netscape Communications.
Mittelhauser is married with two daughters.
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...
.
In 1993, as a graduate student at the University of Illinois, he co-wrote NCSA Mosaic for Windows with fellow student Chris Wilson while working at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications
National Center for Supercomputing Applications
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications is an American state-federal partnership to develop and deploy national-scale cyberinfrastructure that advances science and engineering. NCSA operates as a unit of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign but it provides high-performance...
(NCSA)http://www.w3.org/People.html. Mittelhauser was part of the original team of 5 programmers of Mosaic which included: Marc Andreessen
Marc Andreessen
Marc Andreessen is an American entrepreneur, investor, software engineer, and multi-millionaire best known as co-author of Mosaic, the first widely-used web browser, and co-founder of Netscape Communications Corporation. He founded and later sold the software company Opsware to Hewlett-Packard...
(Unix version), Eric Bina
Eric Bina
Eric J. Bina is the co-creator of Mosaic and the co-founder of Netscape. In 1993, Bina along with Marc Andreessen authored the first version of Mosaic while working as a programmer at National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Bina attended...
(Unix version), Aleks Totic (Mac version) and Chris Wilson (Windows version). The MS Windows version which Mittelhauser and Wilson wrote was the first browser with over a million downloads and is often pointed to as the first widely used web browser.
Mittelhauser attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, graduating from there with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science in 1992 and a Master's degree in 1994.
In May 1994, Mittelhauser left the University of Illinois and was one of the founders of Netscape Communications.
Mittelhauser is married with two daughters.
Professional
- Jon was one of the founders of Netscape Communications Corporation. In addition to various engineering and engineering management positions, he was also the first marketing product manager for Netscape Navigator.
- Mittelhauser opened "The Basin" restaurant in Saratoga with fellow Netscape-er Bill Foss in 1999.
- After Netscape, Mittelhauser was Director of Engineering for Geocast Network Systems, a high profile start-up funded by Mayfield FundMayfield FundMayfield Fund is one of the oldest venture capital firms in the US, focusing on early-stage to growth-stage investments in information technology companies with a focus on enterprise software, Internet consumer & media services, and communications....
, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Institutional Venture PartnersInstitutional Venture PartnersInstitutional Venture Partners is a US based private equity investment firm focusing on later-stage venture capital and growth equity investments. IVP is one of the oldest venture capital firms on Sand Hill Road founded by Reid W... - Most recently, Jon lead the software organization at OnLiveOnLiveOnLive is a cloud gaming platform: the games are synchronized, rendered, and stored on remote servers and delivered via the Internet.The service is available using the OnLive Game System, PCs running Microsoft Windows and Intel-based Macs with OS X 10.5.8 or later...
, Inc. and managed their successful launch in 2010. He left at the end of 2010 as VP of Engineering and joined their Technical Advisory Board so he was free to pursue other ventures.
Philanthropy
- Jon is on the board of directors of the national Prevent Cancer Foundation.
- Jon is on the advisory council for the "Bad Beat on Cancer" initiative.
Other Interests
- Mittelhauser has taken possession of a Tesla RoadsterTesla RoadsterThe Tesla Roadster is a battery electric vehicle sports car produced by the electric car firm Tesla Motors in California. The Roadster was the first highway-capable all-electric vehicle in serial production available in the United States. Since 2008 Tesla has sold 2,024 Roadsters in 30 countries...
from Tesla MotorsTesla MotorsTesla Motors, Inc. is a Silicon Valley-based company that designs, manufactures and sells electric cars and electric vehicle powertrain components. It was the only automaker building and selling a zero-emission sports car, the Tesla Roadster, in serial production...
. It is a battery electric sports carBattery electric vehicleA battery electric vehicle, or BEV, is a type of electric vehicle that uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs. BEVs use electric motors and motor controllers instead of, or in addition to, internal combustion engines for propulsion.A battery-only electric vehicle or...
with a 200 mile range. He was among the first owners. His wife was one of the first to be pulled over by the police in one. - Mittelhauser is a member of the infamous Tiltboys (a group of poker playing buddies whose exploits have been featured in the New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, etc.) which also includes professional poker players Phil GordonPhil GordonPhilip Stewart Gordon is an American professional poker player, commentator and author.-Personal life:Gordon was born in El Paso, Texas. He spent his formative years in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Gordon began attending Georgia Tech at the age of 15 while still attending high school...
, Rafe FurstRafe FurstRafe Furst is an entrepreneur, angel investor, cancer awareness advocate and part time professional poker player. Furst currently works on and advises many projects that involve technology and social entrepreneurship. He regularly blogs about complex systems on EmergentFool...
, and Perry FriedmanPerry FriedmanPerry Friedman is an American professional poker player who won the 2002 World Series of Poker $1,500 Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better event, a founding member of the Tiltboys and is a Full Tilt Professional.- World Series of Poker :...
.
Fun interview facts
- Jon did an AMA on Reddit in 2011 which presented a lot of interesting insights
- While at NCSA, Mittelhauser created the first ever NCAA pool online as a (free) demonstration site for the new web form functionality which the team had added to the various versions of Mosaic.
- Mittelhauser is believed to be the first person to ever have a URL in his email signature.
- Mittelhauser was the first person to ever see an image embedded within a web page. The NCSA team created the original specification for the IMG tag (much to many SGML purists horror) and the presence of Object Linking and EmbeddingObject Linking and EmbeddingObject Linking and Embedding is a technology developed by Microsoft that allows embedding and linking to documents and other objects. For developers, it brought OLE Control eXtension , a way to develop and use custom user interface elements...
in windows allowed that platform to support the new feature first. Prior to that time, images only existed on the web as files which were dispayed in external applications. - Mittelhauser joined eta chapter of Alpha Sigma PhiAlpha Sigma PhiAlpha Sigma Phi Fraternity is a social fraternity with 71 active chapters and 9 colonies. Founded at Yale in 1845, it is the 10th oldest fraternity in the United States....
at University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignThe University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
in 1990.