Developer(s) | Kim Nyberg, Teemu Rantanen, Kati Suominen, Kari Sydänmaanlakka [1] |
---|---|
Initial release | 0.1 / 15 April 1992 |
Final release | 0.1 / 25 April 1994 |
Repository | none |
Written in | C |
Platform | Unix (Sun-4, [2] NeXT/CubX, [2] DEC [2] Ultrix) using Motif [1] |
Available in | English |
Type | web browser |
License | Public Domain |
Website | www |
Erwise is an early discontinued web browser, and the first that was available for the X Window System. [3] [4]
Released in April 1992, the browser was written for Unix computers running X and used the W3 common access library. [5] Erwise was the combined master's project of four Finnish students at the Helsinki University of Technology [6] (now merged into Aalto University): Kim Nyberg, Teemu Rantanen, Kati Suominen and Kari Sydänmaanlakka. [1] [2] [7] The group decided to make a web browser at the suggestion of Robert Cailliau, who was visiting the university, [8] and were supervised by Ari Lemmke.
The development of Erwise halted after the students graduated and went on to other projects. [2] Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, travelled to Finland to encourage the group to continue with the project. However, none of the project members could afford to continue with the project without proper funding. [2]
The name Erwise originates from otherwise and the name of the project group, OHT. [8] [9] [10]
For the web to be popularized, Tim Berners-Lee knew that what people wanted was a GUI-based browser – one that could target multiple operating systems, and most importantly, be easy-to-use for the technologically challenged. At the time, personal computers were also confusing to some people that were not experienced with technology.
The following are significant characteristics of the browser:
Erwise crashed on some versions of Unix, which Berners-Lee attributed to poor Motif implementations. [2] [12]
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It defines the content and structure of web content. It is often assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScript, a programming language.
Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, the HTML markup language, the URL system, and HTTP. He is a professorial research fellow at the University of Oxford and a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
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A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. It further provides for the capture or input of information which may be returned to the presenting system, then stored or processed as necessary. The method of accessing a particular page or content is achieved by entering its address, known as a Uniform Resource Identifier or URI. This may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content. Hyperlinks present in resources enable users easily to navigate their browsers to related resources. A web browser can also be defined as an application software or program designed to enable users to access, retrieve and view documents and other resources on the Internet.
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