COMMERCIALIZATION OF THE INTERNET (NETSCAPE WATERSHED)

http://www.learnabouttheweb.com/module-1/commercialization-of-the-internet-netscape-watershed/

The National Science Foundation opened the door to commercial use of the Internet in 1991. Up until this time, use of the Internet for commercial purposes was restricted.

The High Performance Computing Act, sponsored by Senator Al Gore, established the National Research and Education Network (NREN) and allocated $600 million for high performance computing. NREN brought together industry, academia and government in a joint effort to accelerate the development of networking.

So Al Gore did create the Internet, right? (joke).

One of the most important results of the Gore Bill was the development of the first web browser, Mosaic, in 1993. This browser marked the beginning of the Internet boom and commercialization of the internet in general. Mosaic’s graphical user interface (GUI) and interactive user experience became the foundation for the Internet browsers in use today.

Jim Clark, the founder of Silicon Graphics, believed the commercial potential of the Mosaic web browser. He formed Netscape Communications with Marc Andreessen, one of the writers of the Mosaic web browser. They developed and released Netscape Navigator, the first web browser designed for commercial use.

Netscape offered on-the-fly display of web pages, where text and graphics appeared on the screen as the page loaded. Earlier web browsers did not display partial images, forcing users to stare at a blank screen while the page loaded completely. By displaying partial pages as they loaded even people using dial-up connections could begin using a web page quickly.

Designed primarily for commercial use, Netscape made Internet use acceptable to the general public and business was quick to respond. Internet browsing started to become considered a potentially profitable market. In fact, the original Netscape Navigator is often considered “the best tech product of all time” due to its impact on the Internet.

What I learnt from this section:

Mosaic was the 1st web brewer to be developed during the internet boom which lead to the commercialisation of it. This was the fundamental foundation for the internet web browsers as we know it today. Jim Clark co-formed a new internet web browser with Marc Andreessen and together created Netscape navigator which was the 1st of its kind for commercial usage. The website offered "on-the-fly- display which is where text and graphics appeared whilst the rest of the screen was loading. Before this web browsers only showed the page after it had fully loaded. By doing this it allowed people using dial up to browse more quickly. This then lead to the commercial and more acceptable use of the internet and the public and businesses where quick to respond to this. This then lead to the idea of internet browsing seen as a profitable market.