IBM WebExplorer

IBM WebExplorer was an early web browser designed at IBM facilities in the Research Triangle Park for OS/2.

Name

Not to be confused with IBM Web Browser, a later program based on Mozilla, or with Microsoft Internet Explorer.

History

Presented in 1994 with OS/2 Warp (v3), it was hailed as the best browser by Internet Magazine in their November issuefact|date=August 2007 and leveraged its position as the only native browser in OS/2 at that time. Almost immediately after the introduction of OS/2 Warp version 3, IBM dismantled the development team and that relegated the WebExplorer to the annals of history. IBM WebExplorer, at that time, was the browser application to beat. OS/2 Warp 4 (1996) included it, but also included a link to download an OS/2 version of Netscape Navigator 2.02, which was late for shipping on CD. IBM had already planned the substitution of WebExplorer.

Features

*Support for HTML 3.0 (with tables).
*Usenet reader.
*Some of its parts were scriptable with Rexx. Some external companies used this capability to offer an enhanced browser with IBM's rendering engine.
*A page could define what the animated throbber should look like. It was implemented through a non-standard HTML tag. OS/2 users created [http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/cgi-bin/h-browse?sh=1&dir=//pub/multimedia/video/webexani several animations] . The latter introduction of Web frames leads WebExplorer to confusion on modern pages.
*A presentation mode without visible menu bars.
*A menu option "Links" collecting all the links in the page. It was used by IBM VoiceType for voice navigation.
*Java applets.

hortcomings

*No web frames.
*No redirections.
*No virtual hosts.
*No HTTPS.
*No plugins.
*No JavaScript.
*No PNGs.
*No progressive JPEGs.

ee also

*List of web browsers
*Comparison of web browsers
*Support of Proprietary and Deprecated HTML tags in todays browsers

External links

* [http://web.archive.org/web/19990116230210/www.networking.ibm.com/WebExplorer/webhome.htm The official page at IBM] (version from 1999 at the Internet Archive).
* [http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/cgi-bin/h-viewer?sh=1&fname=/pub/os2/apps/internet/www/browser/webxv11h.zip Last public version (1.1h)] as a ZIP file.
* [http://www.seds.org/~spider/os2/webex.html The IBM OS/2 WebExplorer]
* [http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f2000/2054.htm IBM WebExplorer is mentioned] in DOJ vs Microsoft.