The first web browser, known as WorldWideWeb (later Nexus), was developed by the creator of HTML, Tim Berners-Lee, in 1989. Just two years later, he published this pioneering browser in combination with the lite Line Mode Browser. This could only display text, but graphics could be opened via the WorldWideWeb with a simple click. In 1993, NCSA Mosaic appeared – the first web browser with a graphical user interface. A year later, the Netscape Navigator revolutionized the market forever.
What followed as a browser war with Microsoft and Internet Explorer. After a long period of market domination, Microsoft’s global spread left it a prominent target of cyber criminals. Reports of vulnerabilities and the emergence of Mozilla Firefox in 2004 put a swift end to Internet Explorer’s dominance. The final nail in the coffin for Internet Explorer was Google’s entry to the market in 2008 with its Chrome browser. In just a few years, Chrome was able to make it to the top of the browser market, which you can see from the infographic below on the desktop market shares.