browser

Computer program (such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox) that enables internet users to access, navigate, and search World Wide Web sites. Browsers interpret hypertext links ('hotlinks') and allow documents formatted in hypertext markup language (HTML) to be viewed on the computer screen, and provide many other services including email and downloading and uploading of data, audio, and video files. Also called web browser.

In the early days of the web, Netscape was the dominant browser. Why wasn't it able to maintain that dominance? There are numerous reasons: 1. Switching costs were low. The products were free, simple, and similar, and were easy to switch between. 2. There was a high degree of compatibility: web pages displayed almost the same way regardless of which browser was used. 3. There weren't substantial network effects. In other words, one person didn't benefit from using the same browser that another was using. Collectively these facts made it easier for Microsoft to leverage its dominance on the desktop to quickly gain browser market share.