5 ms·
Honest question: if Microsoft didn't bundle IE and the user hadn't received a copy of those ubiquitous AOL CD-ROMs which came in the mail/magazines (and sometim
by sah2ed 10y ago
Honest question: if Microsoft didn't bundle IE and the user hadn't received a copy of those ubiquitous AOL CD-ROMs which came in the mail/magazines (and sometimes carried the Netscape Navigator installer), how is the user expected to consume content on the web without a web browser?
Surely, you'll at least need a decent web browser to get online to download a different browser of your choice, no?
- kalleboo 10y agoEvery ISP I used in the 90's sent a floppy or CD-ROM with a setup guide, web browser and some other shareware internet tools (FTP clients, Stuffit Expander on the Mac, etc)
- pjc50 10y agoThere was a time when people bought software in boxes.
- mohaine 10y agoThere is no need for a browser to download something from the internet. You only need the browser to browse the internet. (hence the name) A simple UI with a list of options was all that was needed.
- spinlock 10y agoThe web is not the internet
- dragonwriter 10y ago> if Microsoft didn't bundle IE and the user hadn't received a copy of those ubiquitous AOL CD-ROMs which came in the mail/magazines (and sometimes carried the Netscape Navigator installer), how is the user expected to consume content on the web without a web browser? Go to store, by a CD with browser, install. The age when boxed software was a major thing extended past the point when IE started bundling IE. Of course, with a TCP/IP stack you can get software from the internet a lot of ways without a web browser, too. FTP was a thing, after all.
- kamjam 10y agoAs a user who has just bought their first computer, would you a) like to go to the shop and spend money to buy more software b) try to figure out this thing called FTP, maybe going to the library to read up on it even though you have never heard of it so don't know what you are looking for c) just use this thing called "Internet Explorer" that sounds like what you want to do, is free and already installed on the computer you just turned on for the first time?
- spinlock 10y agoYou're talking about an era when Gopher was still the dominant protocol on the internet.
- spinlock 10y agoYou're talking about an era when Gopher was still the dominant protocol on the internet.
- kbenson 10y agoKeep in mind, many people with a computer might not have the internet at all during this period. Purchasing internet service usually came with software to use it.
- dragonwriter 10y agoBefore, and for several years after, Microsoft started bundling IE, many, perhaps most, ISPs (dialup and what passed for "broadband" at the time) typically delivered software CDs that you were expected to install with their own software (often including their preferred web browser, preconfigured with their preferred start page and other settings.) If you just bought your first computer at that time, you weren't likely to have internet service to connect it to until you bought that separately, and when you did, you would have software, too.
- knicholes 10y agoWhen I was a kid (before the publicly-used version of the Internet that we know and love today) and wanted to download software, I'd log into a BBS for my download.
- sah2ed 10y agoThanks for adding your perspective to the discussion though I'd argue that your experience might not have been representative of the larger population.