Web-browser is ... Characteristics of the main browsers in Russia

A Web browser is a program that a modern user of a PC or mobile device uses almost every day. Meanwhile, such decisions were once a novelty even for IT professionals. It's hard to believe, but there were times when the "web" of the world's network was already wrapped around the planet, but not a single browser existed. Today, of course, a web browser is an indispensable component of virtually any computer software. Decisions of this type are dozens. What are they different from each other? What are the most remarkable historical facts that reflect the appearance of browsers? Which IT brands are leading in developing such solutions?

What is a "browser"?

Browser - a program designed to view web pages (usually located on servers on the Internet) - a special kind of documents written in hypertext markup language - HTML. The main task of such programs is the correct recognition of algorithms embedded in HTML and the display of all graphic and text elements from the "web" on the user's screen in a way that is conceived by the site's creators, designers, programmers.

Today, the browser market is represented by a huge number of solutions. Which of them are world leaders? Which of the programs appeared the very first? Are there any Russian products among the world's leading browsers?

History of the invention of the browser

As most IT experts believe, the world's first web browser appeared in December 1990. Then the programmer Tim Berners-Lee released an application that allowed to recognize commands written in HTML language and to translate them into the text displayed on the screen and additional graphic elements. This program is called "browser".

Tim Berners-Lee worked for a long time at CERN, one of the most famous laboratories in the world dealing with the problems of the physics of atomic particles. He found out that computers located in different parts of the organization work within the framework of a not perfect document exchange model. Scientists at CERN did not have enough resources to quickly find the necessary information by a logical transition between the text data of two different files. Then Tim suggested a solution: to organize the document circulation on the principles of "hypertext", which appeared in the 70's.

By the time the programmer began to implement the concept he invented (it was 1989), the Internet has already begun to spread around the world. Tim decided that he would create a technology that would allow exchanging data via hypertext not only within the CERN network, but in a more global format - between the computers of the World Wide Web.

In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee created a special hypertext markup language (called HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language). Soon he wrote a program that allowed to "translate" HTML documents into plain text. The browser created by Tim and called the Nexus was very simple: its capabilities were limited to displaying only letters and numbers. Work on the program was continued by Tim's colleague, Robert Kailiagu, who created several new versions of the solution. Browser programs began to appear under a variety of platforms, including the Windows OS that was gaining popularity.

Browsers for Windows

The world's first browsers appeared, thus, in the early 90's, at the dawn of the global expansion of Windows (later the most popular operating system on the planet). For a long time there was no program for exchanging hypertext information on the Internet via Windows. But in the fall of 1992, a team of programmers from the American corporation NCSA creates a Mosaic browser capable of running the operating system from Microsoft. Soon the developers of this application are building a separate company and launching a new product - Netscape. This browser (as well as the previous one) had, in principle, all the functions that its analogs are equipped with in our time: viewing text formatted in a certain way, pictures and other elements of web pages. Also in it were almost the same basic controls as in modern browsers: address bar, "forward", "back" buttons, etc. The source code of one of Mosaic versions was bought by Microsoft and by the mid-90s it created its own program To view web pages - Internet Explorer (or IE). Which, due to the prevalence of Windows, for many years was the most popular solution in the world. But in the late 90's - early 2000's, new browsers began to appear that made a successful competition against the program from Microsoft. Today, IE is no longer the absolute leader in its segment (although its popularity, of course, is still very high).

In the years when the browser market was born, various solutions began to appear that complement their functionality. These include a variety of anti-virus modules. In particular, already in 1996, the Russian company Doctor Web developed a unique solution, according to many experts.

We are talking about the anti-virus module Dr. Web for the browser. This tool allowed users to scan files for infection through an online form. The Russian program, according to many experts, has become the prototype of "cloud" antivirus technologies, gaining popularity only today.

Competitors IE

Among the most successful solutions, which have become an alternative to Internet Explorer - Opera, Google Chrome (if we talk about world brands), Yandex-browser (from Russian programs). Due to the fact that, following personal computers, mobile gadgets began to gain worldwide popularity, different browsers appeared for them as well. In particular, for the iOS platform is the Puffin program. We will now talk about how all these browsers appeared and about their main features.

Google Chrome

The Google Chrome browser is one of the most popular in the world today. However, its global leadership does not surprise modern IT experts. This browser was created by Google, which already managed to get the status of one of the world IT-giants by the time the program was released to the market (autumn 2008). The future success of the decision was, experts believe, only a matter of time. However, the Google-released browser offered the world a lot of that original. He was able to become unlike existing analogues at that time (such as, for example, Opera and Mozilla FireFox).

The most interesting thing is that in the management of Google for a long time did not even think about creating a browser under the brand of the company. The managers of the corporation believed that the market for programs of this type had long been divided. New browsers, they believed, the world market will not accept. Each user has already chosen a favorite solution for himself, and therefore there are no objective reasons to prefer the program to Google. Moreover, there were fears associated with a possible browser failure. It would hit the existing brand reputation.

However, in the camp of the corporation there were enthusiasts who decided - "Google" -browser will be created. To develop the product, the company hired the best specialists of the industry. And not from anywhere, but from the company Mozilla, developed one of the best at the time of the browser. As a result, a solution has come that has every chance of global success. Browser Google Chrome came out for a long time: easy, easy to use, fast and very nice in terms of design was perceived by the global IT community and, importantly, many users with a bang. The first versions of "Chrome" were for Windows. But already in 2009 there were browser assemblies that can work under Linux and MacOS.

Chrome: investing in quality

As we said above, many IT experts believe that Chrome's browser from Google has become successful largely due to the positions of the developer company. Financial capabilities of the corporation, according to experts, predetermined the highest quality of the program. Despite the fact that this point of view has opponents, very many facts may indicate that the investment opportunities of Google played a significant role in the success of the browser.

It's enough just to remember how the corporation organized campaigns to identify vulnerabilities in its program. Within one of those, Google guaranteed the payment of significant sums of money to IT professionals who would find significant security holes in the browser's security system. In some cases, it was about allocating several million dollars for such campaigns. According to experts, other companies that developed similar solutions could not afford this. Of course, hackers from all over the world wished to become candidates for the "prize". They hacked the security system, which was equipped with Google-browser in the most modern version and told, in return for monetary compensation, the developer company about how they managed to do it. Of course, there was no prosecution under the law (although hacking is known to be a punishable act). Accordingly, in the next version of the browser, "Chrome" was released in view of the "patched" vulnerabilities. This could not not please the users, experts believe. Why the program from Google appeared on an increasing number of computers around the world.

To many users, Google browser was pretty not so much because of safety aspects, but because of its laconic and very stylish design, which is not typical of most similar solutions. On the contrary, many competitors of Google tried, according to experts, to "stuff" their programs with many different functions. Which, as it turned out, not really needed by users (and even can very "brake" the system).

Facts about Chromium

Google company pleased the IT-developers of the world not only with its own browser, but also with the fact that it launched a rather unique product - Chromium. This is also a program for viewing web pages. It, as it can be understood, based on the consonance with the main browser, is very technologically close to it. But there is a difference, and it's significant. Chrome browser - Google's main product in the number of similar solutions. It is designed to meet the commercial needs of the company. Much of the information related to its development, according to experts, is closed. Chromium, in turn, is an open source web browser. This means that almost all programmers from all over the world can use it.

Chromium as a separate browser, according to some experts, is inferior in functionality to its "fellow". However, according to experts, this is not surprising. A minimum of "regular" functions - more freedom for the creativity of third-party developers. But the basic user toolkit in both browsers from Google (and also those created by other programmers based on Chromium) is the same. The main technological advantages characteristic of Chrome, there is in Chromium - speed, simplicity of the interface and management.

Open source, which gave the world developers from Google, predetermined the emergence of a large number of browsers released on the basis of Chromium. They can differ in names (moreover, they are positioned as ardent competitors of each other), but, in fact, represent the same platform. In particular, such well-known Russian companies as Mail and Yandex have created their browsers based on Chromium.

Opera browser: Scandinavian challenge to world leaders

In the early 1990s, two Norwegian programmers, Jon Stephenson von Techchner and his colleague Geir Ivarsay worked in one of the major telecommunications corporations. In 1993, they faced the task of creating a website for their company. They did this, but soon realized that the most popular solution at the time - Mosaic - is not very suitable for displaying web pages. Despite the fact that even then new browsers appeared in the world to become an alternative to Mosaic, Jon and Geir decided that they would create their own program that could work with web documents more correctly. The first version of the application appeared in the same 1993 year. The program was called MultiTorg Opera and was used exclusively for the needs of the employer company Jon and Geir. But a year later a browser appeared, designed to become recognizable on a planetary scale. The name was completely borrowed from the previous decision. The new browser was characterized, according to experts, by minimal consumption of system resources. Many IT experts of those years predicted the program world popularity.

In 1995, Jon and Geir founded their own company, Opera Software AS. Already in 1996, there was a program created under a new brand and name - Opera 2.0. According to experts of those years, the browser perfectly coped with its task of quickly launching web pages. Soon there was a third "Opera". The Internet browser has become, in recognition of many IT professionals, completely revolutionary - in it, in particular, it became possible to work in the multi-window mode. Also, the program automatically implemented the function of filling in web forms, implemented a reliable security protocol. The fourth version of the browser has a separate mail client.

In 2000, the version of "The Opera" was published in Russian. Over the years the Norwegian browser has been constantly improving. New features and functions appeared every now and then. In particular, in version 8.0, released in 2005, appeared voice control. In various modifications of the program, original controls were implemented (such as, for example, "paging through the mouse"). A suitable version of the Opera browser was created for Linux, MacOS. Very popular was the mobile version of the program.

Browser "Opera", according to experts, perfectly reflected the needs of the time when the Internet was slow enough (and if fast, it is very expensive), the computers of most users are not very productive. Gradually, the speed of online channels increased, access to it became cheaper. Computers have become immeasurably more powerful. And so the main historical advantage of the browser - the speed of processing web pages - has ceased to be so important. This explains the experts that today's market positions of Opera are far from leading. But, it should be noted, in Russia this browser is among the most popular (according to some information, about 15% of Internet users from the Russian Federation prefer the Norwegian program).

Browser from "Yandex"

The company "Yandex" is one of the most recognized in the world of Russian IT-brands. Now it is the largest Russian search engine, one of the most popular mail and news services. On the computers of many Russian users, the page "Yandex" is the main page. In 2010, the company released its own web browser. The specificity of the solution that appeared on the market was in close integration with the branded services of Yandex - search engine, mail, satellite maps, etc. The Yandex browser surprised many users with the ability to give various hints that speed up finding the required data. To many, the interface of the program seemed nice , others appreciated the convenience of management.

Is it possible to say that the web browser created by Yandex is 100% Russian development? Of course not. The program is based on the source code Chromium, fully open to IT professionals around the world. As we said above, any person can create a browser based on it (in fact, that's what is happening. Now hundreds, if not thousands, of known and not very programs for browsing the web are created on the basis of Chromium). Therefore, it is worth acknowledging (in no way diminishing the merits of the company "Yandex") - the main role in the emergence of the popular Russian browser belongs to Google.

Puffin: iOS browser

In the second half of 2000, mobile gadgets began to gain popularity in the world. One of the technological trendsetters in this segment was the company Apple, which released several lines of devices running a branded operating system - iOS. Under this platform (as well as competing ones - Android, Windows Mobile, etc.), new browsers were launched from the world's leading developer companies. Opera, Google and other well-known corporations have created solutions that are compatible with Apple's gadgets. At the same time, along with these solutions, the Puffin Web Browser became very popular. What are the features of this program?

The peculiarity of the iOS platform is that it does not support one of the most popular multimedia technologies in the world - Flash. For this reason, many of the sites, whose content is built on the basis of this standard, can be displayed in devices from Apple is not very correct. The Puffin browser has become a solution that is designed to make it easier for users of iOS devices to perform a task related to viewing sites where there is Flash content. Experts and users who tested this program, speak about it as a whole very positively. The main task, assigned to the browser - playing flash-files, is performed well.