This is their story told through desktop icons.

His surfing app, aptly named “WordWideWeb,” was released in 1990.

However, the first web net internet ride that was widely popular was NCSA Mosaic, released in 1993.

Mosaic was the first web internet tool that displayed images on the same page as text.

Mosaic showed it all on one page, and that was a very big deal.

He created Mosaic Netscape, which would later be renamed “Netscape Navigator”.

It was 1995, and the internet tool wars had begun.

1996: Netscape is King

Web use really gained steam throughout 1995.

Before Internet Explorer, Windows' stock web client was literally an icon labeled “The Internet.”

The tide was changing, though.

By the end of 1996, Internet Explorer was already over 20%.

Regardless of Microsoft’s legal troubles, its tactics had clearly worked.

It would never recover.

Microsoft had won the First online window War.

It was around this same time that a fresh name finally entered the web client warsFirefox.

A non-profit called the Mozilla Foundation was formed in 2003 to create a successor to Netscape.

Meanwhile, Apple was getting into the surfing app game.

Netscape and Internet Explorer had been the popular browsers in the Mac ecosystem as well.

By the end of 2004, Internet Explorer was still dominating with around 90% market share.

The surfing app war was beginning to heat up again.

Apple’s Safari made its way to Windows XP and Windows Vista.

A new contender was about to enter the ring.

Google Chrome was released as a beta for Windows in September 2008.

Meanwhile, Firefox was making serious ground on Internet Explorer.

However, it wouldn’t be Firefox that would eventually dethrone IE.

How did it happen?

For several years, the lack of competition lead to a huge decline in development for Internet Explorer.

People were more than happy to ditch IE for Firefox and Chrome.

Despite only being announced four years prior, Google was already on version 23 by the end of 2012.

People also loved how fast and lightweight Chrome was compared to other browsers.

Usage of Internet Explorer and Firefox had dropped to under 5%.

Even Operawhich had been a small player for many yearspassed Internet Explorer.

Chrome accounted for over 50% of the market share.

The closest competitor was Apples Safari at around 15%.

Microsoft realized Internet Explorer was essentially a dead brand.

Meanwhile, mobile browsers had become incredibly popular.

Safari on the iPhone and iPad had nearly six times the usage as Safari for macOS.

Over the previous decade, web client usage had shifted dramatically from PCs to smartphones.

Microsoft has managed to move back into third place with Edge at around 5%.

The big story continues to be mobile browsing.

Chrome and Safari dominating the market is thanks in large part to Android and iPhone dominating the market.

Android is the most used operating system on the planetmore than Windows and macOS.

Nearly all Android devices come pre-installed with Chrome, and all iPhones and iPads come pre-installed with Safari.

The same thing is happening with Chrome and Safari.

The good news is these browsers have not stagnated like Internet Explorer did when the competition declined.

Microsoft Edge has also become a nice browserthough the company cant stop adding unnecessary features.

Sadly, Firefox never regained the popularity it had in the early 2000s.