Both companies were championing new elements, as browser vendors still do today. However, Microsoft made sure their browser only worked with their products while Netscape's browser was made to work on all platforms.
When I worked at Silicon Graphics, I regularly ate lunch with Jim Clark, the president, who later founded Netscape.
Internet Explorer is based on Mosaic out of the University of Illinois. The guy who wrote it, Marc Andreesen, left and wrote all new code for his new browser...Netscape. When Charlie Rose asked him why he didn't just re-use the Mosaic code, he said, "Cause it's terrible!".
|