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Browsers
AOL
AOL has not been supplied with either Windows or Mac OS but is available for both via CD or download. The Windows versions are based on Internet Explorer although the user interface is entirely different. AOL has a licence to base its browser on Internet Explorer till 2010.
The version for Mac OS 8 and 9 has not been updated since 2000 and many web technologies are unsupported.
A more standards-compliant version for Mac OS X was released in 2002 and is based on the Netscape Gecko rendering engine.
 www.aol.co.uk/try/download.html
Apple Safari
This is the first browser Apple have developed in-house and is only available for Mac OS X version 10.2 and above. After a long beta-testing phase it went to full release in June 2003. Early versions rendered pages rapidly but did not support some web technologies, but standards support was much improved from version 1.2 onwards.
www.apple.com/uk/safari/
Camino (formerly Chimera)
Designed specifically for Mac OS X, it is developed by the Mozilla team and is based on the Gecko rendering engine. As of July 2003 it is still a beta product but is considered stable enough for day-to-day use.
www.mozilla.org/projects/camino/
Firefox (formerly Firebird)
This lightweight browser designed by the Mozilla team has rapidly gained market share since its release in November 2004. The open-source architecture has been designed to allow the creation of 'extensions' that extend the browser's functionality, a wide range of which are available from Mozilla and other developers. Versions are available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X but not for Mac OS 9 or earlier.
www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
iCab
This German-designed browser is popular with Mac users. It has built-in HTML validation for every page visited and is available for Mac OS 7, 8 and 9 and OS X. Other platforms are not supported.
www.icab.de/dl.php
Konqueror
The Konqueror browser is one component of the K Desktop Environment (KDE) which is a network-transparent contemporary desktop environment for UNIX workstations. It supports the full gamut of current Internet technologies and is claimed to be highly standards-compliant.
KDE is included with many of the most popular distributions of Linux, and it is also possible to install Konqueror on its own without the other components. The KDE Download page contains installation instructions (for techies only!), a list of mirror sites for the source code and binaries, and a list of Linux distributions that contain the KDE.
www.kde.org/download/
Lynx
Lynx is probably the most widely-used text-only browser, and is commonly used by those with visual or physical disabilities. It is available for Windows, UNIX and DOS, while a Mac version is planned in the future. Development occurs on an ad-hoc basis by a small open-source community so support is rather limited. A degree of technical knowledge is required to install any version of Lynx, and it is necessary to compile some versions before they can be used.
http://lynx.isc.org/release/
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer is supplied with every version of Windows and has been supplied with every version of Mac OS since 1997. It is also the foundation for most versions of AOL.
In June 2003 Microsoft announced that in future it would develop the browser only as part of the operating system, and that version 6.0 SP1 would be the last standalone version. It also said it would not develop any new versions for the Mac, although it would 'support' the existing versions.
www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/default.asp (Windows version)
www.info.apple.com/support/downloads.html (Classic
Mac OS version)
www.apple.com/uk/downloads/macosx/ (Mac
OS X version)
Mozilla
Mozilla is an open-source web browser, designed for standards-compliance, performance and portability, and versions are available for most platforms including Windows, Mac and Linux. It is based on the Netscape Gecko rendering engine and is itself the basis for Netscape Communicator versions 6 and 7, the main difference being that Mozilla is just a browser, while Netscape Communicator includes email, a chat client and other functionality.
When AOL shut down the Netscape operation in July 2003 it provided funding for the Mozilla Foundation to continue operating as a not-for-profit organisation.
www.mozilla.org/
Netscape
Netscape has never been supplied with any version of Windows although compatible versions have been available for every Windows version via CD or download. Netscape was supplied with Mac OS 8 and 9 (from 1997 to 2003) but is not supplied with OS X although a compatible version is available for OS X versions 10.1 and later.
Netscape is owned by AOL and development was officially discontinued in July 2003 although two further versions were released in 2004 and 2005.
www.netscape.co.uk/download/
OmniWeb
Designed specifically for Mac OS X, it takes advantage of the Aqua user interface and incorporates many novel features. It must be purchased, although a time-limited trial version is available.
www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniweb/
Opera
Opera is available for Windows, Mac OS, Linux and many other platforms including mobile devices and has always aimed to maintain strict standards-compliance.
For many years there were free and paid-for versions that were identical except that the former contained banner adverts. In September 2005 this was changed and there is now only one version, which is free and does not carry adverts.
www.opera.com/download/
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