Explore web browsers and search engines

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Web browser

A software application used to access information on the World Wide Web is called a Web Browser. As a client/server model, the browser is the client run on a computer that contacts the Web server and requests information. The Web server sends the information back to the Web browser which displays the results on the computer or other Internet enabled device that supports a browser.

Web browser is a software application used to enable computers users to locate and access web pages. Browsers translates the basic HTML (Hypertext Mark Up Language) code that allows us to see images, text videos and listen to audios on websites, along with hyperlinks that let us travel to different web pages. The browser gets in contact with the web server and requests for information. The web server receives the information and displays it on the computer.

Types of web browsers

• Internet Explorer : This is most widely used web browser by people around the world. It was developed by Microsoft in 1994 and released in 1995 as a supportive package to Microsoft Windows line of Operating Systems.
• Mozilla Firefox: It is owned by Mozilla Corporation and was the result of experimentation. This browser has gone through many name changes due to name changes due to name clashes with product.
• Safari : This is a web browser from Apple, Inc, which is compatible with Mac OS X operating system, Microsoft Windows, and the iPhone OS.
• Opera : This web browser was developed by Opera Software in 1996. It is a well known browser that is mainly used in Internet activated mobile phones, PDAs and smart phones.
• Google Chrome : This web browser was developed by Google. Its beta and commercial versions were released in September 2008 for Microsoft Windows.
• Netscape Navigator/Netscape : It was developed by Netscape Communication Corporation and was most popular in the 1990s. It was compatible with almost every operating system. 

Search Engine

Search engine is a program such as documents for specifies keyword and returns and list of documents where the keywords were found.

Search engine refers to a huge database of internet resources such as webpages, newsgroup, programs, image etc. It helps to locate information on World Wide Web.

User can search for any information by passing query in form of keywords or phrase. It then searches for relevant information in its database and return to the user.

Following are the several search engines available today:

• Google : It was originally called BackRub. It is the most popular search engine globally.
• Bing : It was launched in 2009 by Microsoft. It is latest web based search engine that also delivers Yohoo's results.
• Ask : It was launched in 1996 and was originally known as Ask Jeeves. It includes support for match, dictionary and conversation question.
• AltaVista : It was launched by Digital Equipment Corporation in 1995. Since 2003, It is powered by yahoo technology.
• AOL. Search : It is powered by  Google.
• LYCOS : It is top 5 internet portal and 13th largest online property according to Media Matrix.

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