Internet suite

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An Internet suite is an Internet-related software suite. Internet suites usually include a web browser, e-mail client (often with a news client and address book), download manager, HTML editor, and an IRC client.

The diversity of Internet suite offerings was greatest in the mid-1990s, when proprietary web browser vendors felt it more profitable to sell entire retail suites of applications on compact disc. However, by the end of the first browser war, the Internet suite market dwindled to one or two competitors every few years; in reaction, alternative routes of profit or funding were sought (Opera Software, for example, moved away from offering the Opera Internet suite with embedded advertisements to a completely ad-free product), and Mozilla (spun out of Netscape) began to separate the Mozilla Application Suite into separate projects: Firefox, Thunderbird, and Sunbird, but development of suite continued with Seamonkey internet suite and after several years it is very active and under Mozilla umbrella. A further cause of depression in the diversity of Internet suites was the rise of Ajax-based web applications (webmail, for example) which replicated most of the functions of their desktop client equivalents while offering cross-desktop portability through the web browser, something which was not offered as easily by desktop clients inside the Internet suite and outside the web browser.

Examples[edit]

Internet suites by year[edit]

Chronological listing

A rough estimation of usage share by percent of layout engines/web browsers, see Usage share of web browsers.
Year Internet
Users*[1]		 Web Browsers
Pre-browser: HyperCard, Gopher
1991
1992
1993
1994 Minuet
1995 16 mil. Delrina Cyberjack
1996 36 Arachne, Cyberdog, Opera 2, Internet Explorer 3, Netscape Gold
1997 70 Netscape Communicator 4, Internet Explorer 4, Opera 3.0[2]
1998 147
1999 248 Internet Explorer 5
2000 361 Netscape 6, Opera 4,[3] Opera 5[4]
2001 513 Opera 6[5]
2002 587 Netscape 7, Mozilla 1.0
2003 719 Opera 7[6]
2004 817 Netscape Browser, OmniWeb 5.0
2005 1018 Opera 8[7]
2006 1093 SeaMonkey, Opera 9,[8] AOL OpenRide
2007 1262
2008 1565 AOL Desktop, Opera 9.5[9]
2009 Opera 10,[10] SeaMonkey 2

Operating system support[edit]

Note, 'terminated' means the same as yes, it was supported in the final release but development stopped. Dropped means that major development has ended for that operating system but development for other operating systems continued (the version in parentheses indicates the last version that supported that operating system), while the reverse situation of added is just treated as yes.

Browser MS 2000/XP 98/Me NT 95 3.1 IBM OS/2 Mac OS X
(Intel/PPC)		 Mac OS 9 Mac OS 8 System 7
(PPC/68k)		 Linux BSD Unix
(HP-UX,
Solaris)		 Other
Years (OS) 2000/2001 1998 1993 1995 1992 1988 2001 1999 1997 1991 '94(1.0)/'91 1993 (1990s) -
Arachne No No No No No No No No No No Yes No No DOS
IE 5.0
IE 4.0		 Included Included Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Dropped * (5.01 SP1) Unknown Dropped * (5.01 SP1) No
IE 3.0 Yes Yes Yes Included Yes Unknown No Yes Included Yes Yes * Unknown Yes * No
Mozilla Terminated (1.7.13) Terminated (1.7.13) Terminated (1.7.13) Terminated (1.7.13) Dropped[citation needed] Terminated (1.7.13) Terminated (1.7.13) Dropped (1.2.1) Dropped (1.0.1) No Terminated (1.7.13) Terminated (1.7.13) Terminated (1.7.13) OpenVMS
Classilla No No No No No No under Classic only Yes Yes (OS 8.5+) No No No No No
Netscape 7
Netscape 6		 Terminated (7.2) Terminated (7.2) Terminated (7.2) Terminated (7.2) No No Terminated (7.2) Dropped (7.02) Dropped (7.02) No Terminated (7.2) Terminated (7.2) Terminated (7.2) No
Netscape Communicator Terminated (4.8) Terminated (4.8) Terminated (4.8) Terminated (4.8) Dropped (4.08) Terminated No Terminated (4.8) Terminated (4.8) Dropped (4.78) Terminated (4.8) Terminated Terminated (4.8) No
Netscape Gold Terminated (3.04) Terminated (3.04) Terminated (3.04) Terminated (3.04) Terminated (3.04) Terminated No Terminated Terminated Terminated Terminated (3.04) Terminated (3.04) Terminated (3.04) No
Opera Yes Yes Yes Yes Dropped (3.62) Dropped (5.12) Yes Dropped (7.54u2) Dropped (6.03) Unknown Yes Yes Yes QNX
Cell phones
Symbian
Wii
Windows Mobile
SeaMonkey Yes Terminated Yes[citation needed] Terminated No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes ?
Browser MS 2000/XP 98/Me NT 95 3.1 IBM OS/2 Mac OS X
(Intel/PPC)		 Mac OS 9 Mac OS 8 System 7
(PPC/68k)		 Linux BSD Unix
(HP-UX,
Solaris)		 Other

Suites by applications[edit]

Listing with major features, with approximate grouping. Note specific features in suites are often divided between applications differently, or integrated in different ways. The years category refers mainly to the active development and release period.

Client Years Web browser E-mail client HTML editor Address Book IRC client Usenet FTP Gopher Other
Arachne 1996-Now Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Dialer
Beonex Communicator 2000-2003 Navigator Mail & Newsgroups Composer Yes ChatZilla Yes Yes Yes Extensions
Classilla 2009-Now Yes Mail & Newsgroups Composer Yes No Yes Yes Yes -
Cyberdog 1996-1997 Yes Yes No Apple Address Book No Yes Yes No -
Cyberjack 1995 Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes TalkWorks, WinComm, WinFax
Internet Explorer 3 1996-1997 Yes Microsoft Internet Mail and News No Windows Address Book No Yes Yes Yes Microsoft Comic Chat, Microsoft Java Virtual Machine, Microsoft NetMeeting, RealPlayer, Windows Media Player
Internet Explorer 4 1997-1998 Yes Outlook Express FrontPage Express Windows Address Book No Yes Yes Yes Active Channel, Microsoft Chat 2.0, Microsoft NetMeeting, RealPlayer, Windows Desktop Update
Internet Explorer 5 1998-2000 Yes Outlook Express FrontPage Express Windows Address Book No Yes Yes Yes Windows Media Player, NetMeeting, Chat,
Minuet ?-1996 Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes telnet
Mozilla 1999-2005 Navigator Mail & Newsgroups Composer Yes ChatZilla Yes Yes Yes Extensions, Palm Tools
Netscape Gold 1996-1997 Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes CoolTalk
Netscape Communicator 1997-2002 Navigator Mail & Newsgroups Composer Yes No Yes Yes Yes Netscape Conference, Netscape Netcaster
Netscape 5 never released N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Netscape 6 & 7 2000-2004 Navigator Mail & Newsgroups Composer Yes [11] ChatZilla Yes Yes Yes AIM, Radio, net2Phone
Opera 1996-Now Yes Opera Mail Opera Dragonfly Yes Opera Mail Opera Mail read only Proxy is needed Dialer, BitTorrent
SeaMonkey 2005-Now Navigator Mail & Newsgroups Composer Yes ChatZilla Yes Yes Yes Extensions, Palm Tools
Client Years Web browser E-mail client HTML editor Address Book IRC client Usenet FTP Gopher Other

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ History and Growth of the Internet Internet World Stats. Accessed 2007-03-03.
  2. ^ "Opera Software Releases 3.60" (Press release). Opera Software. 1998-05-12. Retrieved 2008-02-19. 
  3. ^ "Opera 4.0 for Windows Released" (Press release). Opera Software. 2000-06-27. Retrieved 2008-12-10. 
  4. ^ "The Browser War Lights Up in Europe" (Press release). Opera Software. 2000-12-06. Retrieved 2008-12-10. 
  5. ^ "Opera 6.0 for Windows launched after record-breaking beta" (Press release). Opera Software. 2001-11-29. Retrieved 2008-02-19. 
  6. ^ "Opera 7 Ready to Rock the Web" (Press release). Opera Software. 2003-01-28. Retrieved 2008-02-19. 
  7. ^ "Speed, Security and Simplicity: Opera 8 Web Browser Released Today" (Press release). Opera Software. 2005-04-19. Retrieved 2008-02-19. 
  8. ^ "Your Web, Your Choice: Opera 9 Gives You the Control" (Press release). Opera Software. 2006-06-20. Retrieved 2008-12-10. 
  9. ^ "Opera redefines Web browsing yet again" (Press release). Opera Software. 2008-06-12. Retrieved 2008-06-12. 
  10. ^ "Turbocharge your Web experience with Opera 10" (Press release). Opera Software. 2009-09-01. Retrieved 2010-01-02. 
  11. ^ The addressbook is integrated in Mail & Newsgroups
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