American History 1988
Chapter 297 - 287 Explorer (explorer)

Chapter 297: Chapter 287 Explorer (explorer)

"I guess you have some good news to tell me."

Jim Clark, who drove directly from Silicon Graphics, seemed very eager with his first words upon arrival.

There was no helping it; since he began paying attention to the internet, he had been captivated by it.

As browsers slowly started circulating on shared websites, the novelty of webpages had gradually piqued people’s interest.

By March 1993, the entire internet totaled less than a hundred websites, while the number of netizens had already surpassed a million.

So each of these websites was closely watched, to the extent that someone specialized in tallying a daily catalogue of new sites.

And no matter how much attention these sites garnered, they all depended on one thing, and that was a browser.

Berners Lee’s World Wide Web browser, the Viola WWW written by Berkeley students, and the Enwise from Helsinki University had all achieved varying degrees of spread.

Seeing the business he wanted to do being slowly preempted by others, of course, Clark was in a hurry.

"How about we grab a cup of coffee first?" Dean, who had just finished handling documents in the office, stood up leisurely and stretched.

"Buddy, people are surfing the internet with other browsers, and we’re just drinking coffee?!"

Clark wished he could dive into the business right this instant; he had no patience to sit down and slowly savor coffee.

"OK, OK," resigned to the fact, Dean, who had hoped to rest for a while, could only lead him out of the office.

"So we’ve got some results with our work, right?" Clark, walking briskly, followed Dean through the winding corridors of Byte Company.

"You could say we have a test version, Teresa and the others haven’t done badly."

Soon, Dean led Clark into a rather spacious office, where over a dozen young people were fervently tapping away at their keyboards.

Some of them were Byte Company’s technicians, the others had been poached by Clark from around Silicon Valley.

"Teresa~" Dean headed straight for the desk at the front.

"Boss," Teresa, wearing thick glasses, immediately smiled upon seeing Dean.

The others were also on familiar terms with Dean, greeting him with high-fives or nodding heads in various manners.

It was clear that they had already become quite acquainted with Dean, and he carried none of the airs of a billionaire.

"Can we show Mr. Clark our secret weapon?" Dean tilted his head towards the person beside him.

"Of course," Teresa happily agreed.

She had been seated in this office for almost a year, and now the moment to reveal her work had finally come.

Yes, she knew the time was right.

She had used all those external browsers, and she had also met Clark a few times.

At this point, when the internet was increasingly prominent, Dean brought a guest to one of Byte Company’s core areas.

It didn’t take much thought to realize that the project, which had been lying dormant for almost a year, was about to make its dazzling entrance.

After double-clicking an icon on her computer desktop, a browser window quickly popped up.

"Oh~, this looks nice," Clark’s attention was first drawn to the UI interface.

It looked somewhat simpler than the earliest World Wide Web browser.

There were no complex toolbar commands, nor any arcane technical jargon.

Most importantly, this browser made extensive use of graphic design, replacing the textual function buttons of other browsers with various small icons.

This made the entire window appear much cleaner and even more colorful due to the presence of icons.

Just the first impression filled Clark with anticipation for this browser because they were beautiful.

Yes, beautiful—prettier than any browser currently available on the internet.

As Clark was engrossed in the window’s UI design, the browser had already finished loading the webpage.

"What is this...?" Clark’s attention was now captured by the webpage before him.

"Try it out," Dean suggested with a smile.

Clark simply pulled over a chair and sat down, then began to thoroughly browse through the webpage.

Damn, he actually saw images on the homepage, and those fonts—they magically brimmed with an artistic touch.

"Oh, Shit! Dean, do you see these images?" Clark exclaimed in rapid succession.

"Yeah~" Dean nodded with a smile.

He knew why Clark was so surprised, because these images and text could be displayed on the same page.

Doesn’t that sound strange? Aren’t webpages supposed to be like this?

However, before using this browser, that indeed wasn’t the case.

Whether it was the World Wide Web or Viola WWW, they could display images as well.

But there was a catch: the window loading the image had to be shown separately.

In other words, if users wanted to view an image, they had to open a new window.

Now, however, the browser Teresa and her team developed could directly embed images within text.

This meant that users no longer needed to open an extra window to enjoy images on a webpage.

This was truly "what you see is what you get," presenting content that was more direct and richer.

Did users prefer text-only webpages or ones with images and beautiful fonts?

The answer was obvious, and Clark could hardly contain his excitement.

He scrolled through the webpage and casually clicked on a title.

"Black Cat Café’s new arrival, Cappuccino, personal rating 4 stars!"

"Oh~, what’s this..." Clark scrolled the mouse again, "is this a coffee shop review?"

Not only did it have text, but also illustrations of cafes and various types of coffee.

It was far richer than any webpage Clark had seen before, almost like a product from an entirely different generation.

"Hmm" Dean nodded proudly, "You can find reviews of most restaurants, cafes, theaters... and so on in California on here."

"What website is this? Why haven’t I heard of it?"

Clark was deeply fascinated by this webpage, he had never imagined the internet could be like this.

"Price’s List, it’s not officially launched yet." This was Dean’s secret weapon to complement the browser.

It was obvious that the browser developed by Teresa and her team had Price’s List set as its homepage.

Browsers need a webpage as a homepage, and Price’s List also needed promotion.

Conveniently, Dean had both these things, it was a perfect match.

"Price’s List?" Clark wanted to explore this webpage more, he saw many interesting sections.

"We can talk about the website later, how about the browser?" Dean wanted to hear his opinion.

"It’s great, it’s given me a brand-new experience." Clark’s attention returned to the browser itself, "It’s prettier, simpler, and more eye-catching."

Compared to the existing World Wide Web browsers, it was clear that the one Dean was showing had absorbed many of their strengths.

At the same time, it also had its own unique features and made considerable improvements.

Tim Berners-Lee’s browser for the World Wide Web was too professional and complex due to its scientific audience.

The domestic American Viola WWW, being a student project, was underdeveloped and flawed.

But Teresa and her team were different, just look at this office, they have a programming team of over a dozen people.

It was the difference between a structured army and guerrilla troops, it was clear who was superior.

"What’s the name of this browser?" Clark, whose attention had been scattered, had even forgotten to ask this question.

Dean minimized the window, then pointed to a globe-shaped letter "e" logo on the desktop.

"I call it ’Explorer’ browser."

"Explorer?" Clark repeated the word.

"That’s right, it will lead people to explore the mysterious and vast world of the internet."

The letter "e" in the logo stood for the abbreviation of the word ’Explorer’ in English.

Designing it in the shape of the globe also symbolized that the internet connects the whole world, making it a global village.

"Good! So when can we start this business? I can’t wait."

Clark believed that the Explorer browser was superior to all known competing products.

When an advantage is big enough, people are willing to pay for it.

The Explorer had reached that point, the time was ripe.

"No, Jim," Dean threw a bucket of cold water on Clark’s fiery enthusiasm.

"We can’t charge for the browser yet."

"Why?" Clark exclaimed, shocked, as it was an excellent opportunity to reap profits.

They didn’t have many competitors at the moment, and people are more likely to develop a habit of paying for a new product.

Especially for consumer software, the first couple of years are usually the most profitable for the company.

Because later, as the number of competitors increases, the product prices will inevitably fall, reducing the profits.

So, shouldn’t they start selling the Explorer browser as soon as possible?

Clark was full of doubt, waiting for Dean’s explanation.

"Jim, do you remember I once told you that the browser can’t be a business, for now?"

"Oh..." Clark’s brow furrowed, "Was it the issue with the code you mentioned before?"

"That’s right" Dean nodded, "In terms of ownership, the Hypertext Markup Language, protocols, and such still belong to the European Organization for Nuclear Research."

"Shit!" Clark finally realized what the issue was.

The underlying code used to write the Explorer browser contained considerable portions that risked copyright infringement.

The current World Wide Web, Viola WWW, and Enwise were all free, so the issue had been overlooked.

But if Explorer started charging and created substantial commercial profit, would the European Organization for Nuclear Research remain indifferent?

No one could guarantee it, especially when its commercial value reached a scale of "hundreds of millions of US dollars."

"Damn it!" Clark cursed vehemently, "So we’re just supposed to watch and do nothing?"

"For now, yes," Dean shrugged nonchalantly.

"Wait a minute," it seemed Clark had an epiphany, "Dean, do you have another plan?"

Clark knew Dean cared about this business even more than he did, but the latter wasn’t in a rush at all.

That said enough, and suddenly, Clark’s eyes brightened.

"Did you get their authorization?"

"No," Dean shook his head.

"So...?" Clark spread his hands, what now?

They had prepared for so long, surely it couldn’t all be for nothing in the end.

"We’ll distribute the Explorer browser for free."

"What?" Clark’s eyes widened in surprise.

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