A few decades ago, Microsoft made a monumental decision to bundle Internet Explorer 2.0 with its latest operating system, Windows 95. This move in and of itself was normal for Microsoft at the time; identifying a new tech product, developing its own version, and then releasing it at a fraction of the price to steal market share. Internet Explorer 2.0 was launched in this manner on November 27, 1995.
While this type of corporate behavior was expected at the time, Microsoft never anticipated the response it would get from its competitors, which would lead to several lawsuits and an investigation by the U.S. government. All these events culminated into what we know now as the First Browser War.
The internet in the 90s
Netscape Navigator took over the market
To understand the First Browser War, you need to know how the internet worked back in the mid 90s. From the early to mid 90’s the de facto web browser in the U.S. was Netscape Navigator, and unlike today, it wasn’t free to use. When Netscape was first released, it was free for individuals, academics and NGOs, but that didn’t last long, and once the company gained traction, the browser cost $99 per user for individuals and businesses alike.
Between 1993 and 1995, Netscape Navigator grew in popularity and became available on every major operating system and could be found in almost every home and workplace in America. But this all changed when Microsoft decided to bundle Internet Explorer 2.0 for free with Windows 95.
The First Browser War
Microsoft vs. Netscape
Microsoft had already bundled Internet Explorer 1.0 as part of Windows 95 Plus! and other Windows version add-ons, but this time it was different. With the release of Internet Explorer 2.0, Microsoft would essentially make the internet free to use for anyone that had a Windows PC, and Netscape was not happy about this.
Netscape, which at the time owned a 90% market share in the web browser market, cried unfair business practices and asserted that Microsoft was creating a monopoly. And as ironic as the claim was, they weren’t wrong. The truth was that any market that Microsoft entered eventually did become its own monopoly. This was later confirmed when interdepartmental memos were leaked where Bill Gates specifically mentioned competing with Netscape, pushing the product team to get Internet Explorer to OEMs in order to “suffocate” Netscape Navigator.
The rise of Internet Explorer
And the death of Netscape Navigator
Over the next few years, Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator went head-to-head in the browser market. Netscape Navigator would later make their web browser free and also bundled a whole suite of other applications with the program to entice users, but it was too little, too late. As the years went on, Internet Explorer became more and more popular, and with each new Windows PC sold, Netscape’s market share dwindled.
By 1998, Netscape still had around 30% of the market share, but the yearly projections were written in stone and the company knew it couldn’t compete with Internet Explorer as it was pre-installed on most operating systems, and was even being bundled with Apple computers at the time. So, with the world entering the dot-com bubble, Netscape took the only door available. And on November 24th 1998, AOL (America Online) announced its acquisition of Netscape Navigator for $4.2 billion, which was finalized the next year.
From here, the browser formerly known as Netscape Navigator would slowly die off. To add insult to injury, in 2008 Microsoft would buy the company and all its patents for a mere $1 billion, just to turn around a year later and sell it to Facebook, who still owns it today. While Netscape may have died, its legacy still lives on. Just before Netscape Navigator was sold off, the creator of the software released the source code on the internet where netizens would work on it until it became the browser we know today as Mozilla Firefox.
Microsoft had won the battle but not the war
In the same year that Netscape was acquired, Microsoft was taken to court by the United States government over antitrust laws. This led to the final conclusion that Microsoft, was in fact, a monopoly. The court ruled that Microsoft would have to divest its company and form one company that makes operating systems and another that creates web browsers.
Of course, we know that this never happened. Microsoft applied for an appeal to the court ruling and, after a few years of fighting the case, Microsoft left the courthouse virtually unscathed and received, what many would consider, a simple slap on the wrist. Microsoft would eventually taste some of their own medicine in 2005 when Internet Explorer started losing control of the market due to competition from Google Chrome and Netscape’s successor Mozilla Firefox in the Second Browser Wars.
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source: https://www.xda-developers.com/29-years-ago-today-microsoft-released-internet-explorer-20-and-started-the-first-browser-war-with-netscape-navigator/
