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42-416: A web browser is an application for accessing websites . When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on a range of devices, including desktops , laptops , tablets , and smartphones . By 2020, an estimated 4.9 billion people had used a browser. The most-used browser

84-474: A browser war with Netscape. Within a few years, Microsoft gained a dominant position in the browser market for two reasons: it bundled Internet Explorer with its popular Windows operating system and did so as freeware with no restrictions on usage. The market share of Internet Explorer peaked at over 95% in the early 2000s. In 1998, Netscape launched what would become the Mozilla Foundation to create

126-455: A command-line interface or graphical user interface . This does not include application software bundled within operating systems such as a software calculator or text editor . Freeware Freeware is software , most often proprietary , that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user . There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license , or EULA that defines freeware unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for

168-404: A geography application for Microsoft Windows , or an Android application for education , or a Linux game . Sometimes a new and popular application arises that only runs on one platform , increasing the desirability of that platform. This is called a killer application or killer app , coined in the late 1980s. For example, VisiCalc was the first modern spreadsheet software for

210-684: A contentious debate in the computing community regarding web applications replacing native applications for many purposes, especially on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets . Web apps have indeed greatly increased in popularity for some uses, but the advantages of applications make them unlikely to disappear soon, if ever. Furthermore, the two can be complementary, and even integrated. Application software can also be seen as being either horizontal or vertical . Horizontal applications are more popular and widespread, because they are general purpose, for example word processors or databases. Vertical applications are niche products , designed for

252-479: A kind of user software. Users create this software themselves and often overlook how important it is. The delineation between system software such as operating systems and application software is not exact, however, and is occasionally the object of controversy. For example, one of the key questions in the United States v. Microsoft Corp. antitrust trial was whether Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser

294-566: A legal safe and internationally law domains respecting way. The typical freeware use case "share" can be further refined with Creative Commons restriction clauses like non-commerciality ( CC BY-NC ) or no- derivatives ( CC BY-ND ), see description of licenses . There are several usage examples , for instance The White Chamber , Mari0 or Assault Cube , all freeware by being CC BY-NC-SA licensed with only non-commercial sharing allowed. Freeware cannot economically rely on commercial promotion. In May 2015 advertising freeware on Google AdWords

336-468: A license, but displays advertising to either cover development costs or as a means of income. Registerware forces the user to subscribe with the publisher before being able to use the product. While commercial products may require registration to ensure licensed use , registerware do not. Shareware permits redistribution, but the license only allows limited use before paying the license fee. Some features may be disabled prior to payment, in which case it

378-467: A lifetime, or forever). Since the development and near-universal adoption of the web , an important distinction that has emerged, has been between web applications — written with HTML , JavaScript and other web-native technologies and typically requiring one to be online and running a web browser — and the more traditional native applications written in whatever languages are available for one's particular type of computer . There has been

420-416: A more capable version, as in the freemium and shareware business models . The term freeware was coined in 1982 by Andrew Fluegelman , who wanted to sell PC-Talk , the communications application he had created, outside of commercial distribution channels. Fluegelman distributed the program via the same process as shareware . As software types can change, freeware can change into shareware. In

462-486: A new browser using the open-source software model. This work evolved into the Firefox browser, first released by Mozilla in 2004. Firefox's market share peaked at 32% in 2010. Apple released its Safari browser in 2003; it remains the dominant browser on Apple devices, though it did not become popular elsewhere. Google debuted its Chrome browser in 2008, which steadily took market share from Internet Explorer and became

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504-747: A particular type of industry or business, or department within an organization. Integrated suites of software will try to handle every specific aspect possible of, for example, manufacturing or banking worker, accounting, or customer service. There are many types of application software: Applications can also be classified by computing platforms such as a desktop application for a particular operating system , delivery network such as in cloud computing and Web 2.0 applications, or delivery devices such as mobile apps for mobile devices . The operating system itself can be considered application software when performing simple calculating, measuring, rendering, and word processing tasks not used to control hardware via

546-556: A promotion for the premium version. The two often share a code base, using a compiler flag to determine which is produced. For example, BBEdit has a BBEdit Lite edition which has fewer features. XnView is available free of charge for personal use but must be licensed for commercial use. The "free" version may be advertising supported, as was the case with the DivX . Ad-supported software and registerware also bear resemblances to freeware. Ad-supported software does not ask for payment for

588-405: A single entity to be responsible for updating and enhancing the product, which is then given away without charge. Other freeware projects are simply released as one-off programs with no promise or expectation of further development. These may include source code , as does free software, so that users can make any required or desired changes themselves, but this code remains subject to the license of

630-815: A sync service and web accessibility features. Common user interface (UI) features: While mobile browsers have similar UI features as desktop versions, the limitations of touch screens require mobile UIs to be simpler. The difference is significant for users accustomed to keyboard shortcuts . The most popular desktop browsers also have sophisticated web development tools . Web browsers are popular targets for hackers , who exploit security holes to steal information, destroy files , and other malicious activities. Browser vendors regularly patch these security holes, so users are strongly encouraged to keep their browser software updated. Other protection measures are antivirus software and being aware of scams . Application software Applications may be bundled with

672-529: A web browser is to fetch content and display it on the user's device. This process begins when the user inputs a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), such as https://en.wikipedia.org/ , into the browser. Virtually all URLs on the Web start with either http: or https: which means they are retrieved with the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). For secure mode (HTTPS), the connection between

714-461: Is Google Chrome , with a 67% global market share on all devices, followed by Safari with 18%. A web browser is not the same thing as a search engine , though the two are often confused. A search engine is a website that provides links to other websites. However, to connect to a website's server and display its web pages, a user must have a web browser installed. In some technical contexts, browsers are referred to as user agents . The purpose of

756-459: Is based on Mozilla 's code. Both of these codebases are open-source, so a number of small niche browsers are also made from them. The most popular browsers share many features in common. They automatically log users' browsing history , unless the users turn off their browsing history or use the non-logging private mode . They also allow users to set bookmarks , customize the browser with extensions , and can manage user passwords . Some provide

798-486: Is royalty-free and - openly or reservedly- can be run, distributed, modified, reversed, republished, or created in derivative works without any copyright attribution and therefore revocation . It can even be sold, but without transferring the public domain property to other single subjects. Public-domain SW can be released under a (un)licensing legal statement, which enforces those terms and conditions for an indefinite duration (for

840-431: Is sometimes known as crippleware. Both freeware and shareware sometimes have a limited evaluation period, after which the software is automatically disabled or starts displaying a request to pay a registration fee. In the latter case it is colloquially known as nagware. The Creative Commons offer licenses , applicable to all by copyright governed works including software, which allow a developer to define "freeware" in

882-643: Is typically proprietary and distributed without source code. By contrast, the "free" in "free software" refers to freedoms granted users under the software license (for example, to run the program for any purpose, modify and redistribute the program to others), and such software may be sold at a price. According to the Free Software Foundation (FSF), "freeware" is a loosely defined category and it has no clear accepted definition, although FSF asks that free software (libre; unrestricted and with source code available) should not be called freeware. In contrast

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924-506: The Windows Store , the term was extended in popular use to include desktop applications. There are many different and alternative ways to classify application software. From the legal point of view, application software is mainly classified with a black-box approach , about the rights of its end-users or subscribers (with eventual intermediate and tiered subscription levels). Software applications are also classified with respect to

966-669: The World Wide Web easy to navigate and thus more accessible to the average person. This, in turn, sparked the Internet boom of the 1990s, when the Web grew at a very rapid rate. The lead developers of Mosaic then founded the Netscape corporation, which released the Mosaic-influenced Netscape Navigator in 1994. Navigator quickly became the most popular browser. Microsoft debuted Internet Explorer in 1995, leading to

1008-419: The computer and its system software or published separately and may be coded as proprietary , open-source , or projects. When referring to applications for mobile devices such as phones, the term "app" is more commonly used. In information technology, an application ( app ), an application program , or application software is a computer program designed to help people perform an activity. Depending on

1050-411: The 1980s and 1990s, the term freeware was often applied to software released without source code . Freeware software is available for use without charge and typically has limited functionality with a more capable version available commercially or as shareware. It is typically fully functional for an unlimited period of time. In contrast to what the Free Software Foundation calls free software ,

1092-520: The Apple II and helped sell the then-new personal computers into offices. For Blackberry it was their email software. The shortened term "app" (coined in 1981 or earlier ) became popular, with the 2008 introduction of the iOS App Store , to refer to applications for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets . Later, with the 2010 introduction of the Mac App Store and the 2011 introduction of

1134-476: The Oxford English Dictionary simply characterizes freeware as being "available free of charge (sometimes with the suggestion that users should make a donation to the provider)". Some freeware products are released alongside paid versions that either have more features or less restrictive licensing terms. This approach is known as freemium ("free" + "premium"), since the "free" version is intended as

1176-523: The activity for which it was designed, an application can manipulate text, numbers, audio, graphics, and a combination of these elements. Some application packages focus on a single task, such as word processing; others called integrated software include several applications. User-written software tailors systems to meet the user's specific needs. User-written software includes spreadsheet templates, word processor macros, scientific simulations, audio, graphics, and animation scripts. Even email filters are

1218-474: The author of freeware usually restricts the rights of the user to use, copy, distribute, modify, make derivative works, or reverse engineer the software. The software license may impose additional usage restrictions; for instance, the license may be "free for private, non-commercial use" only, or usage over a network, on a server, or in combination with certain other software packages may be prohibited. Restrictions may be required by license or enforced by

1260-510: The basis for many other browsers, including Microsoft Edge , currently in third place with about a 5% share, as well as Samsung Internet and Opera in fifth and sixth places respectively with over 2% market share each. The other two browsers in the top four are made from different codebases . Safari , based on Apple 's WebKit code, is the second most popular web browser and is dominant on Apple devices, resulting in an 18% global share. Firefox , in fourth place, with about 3% market share,

1302-493: The browser and web server is encrypted , providing a secure and private data transfer. Web pages usually contain hyperlinks to other pages and resources. Each link contains a URL, and when it is clicked or tapped , the browser navigates to the new resource. Most browsers use an internal cache of web page resources to improve loading times for subsequent visits to the same page. The cache can store many items, such as large images, so they do not need to be downloaded from

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1344-425: The freeware it offers. For instance, modification , redistribution by third parties, and reverse engineering are permitted by some publishers but prohibited by others. Unlike with free and open-source software , which are also often distributed free of charge, the source code for freeware is typically not made available. Freeware may be intended to benefit its producer by, for example, encouraging sales of

1386-601: The menu for deleting cookies. Finer-grained management of cookies usually requires a browser extension . The first web browser, called WorldWideWeb , was created in 1990 by Sir Tim Berners-Lee . He then recruited Nicola Pellow to write the Line Mode Browser , which displayed web pages on dumb terminals . The Mosaic web browser was released in April 1993, and was later credited as the first web browser to find mainstream popularity. Its innovative graphical user interface made

1428-504: The most popular browser in 2012. Chrome has remained dominant ever since. By 2015, Microsoft replaced Internet Explorer with Edge for the Windows 10 release. Since the early 2000s, browsers have greatly expanded their HTML , CSS , JavaScript , and multimedia capabilities. One reason has been to enable more sophisticated websites, such as web apps . Another factor is the significant increase of broadband connectivity in many parts of

1470-734: The programming language in which the source code is written or executed, and concerning their purpose and outputs. Application software is usually distinguished into two main classes: closed source vs open source software applications, and free or proprietary software applications. Proprietary software is placed under the exclusive copyright, and a software license grants limited usage rights. The open-closed principle states that software may be "open only for extension, but not for modification". Such applications can only get add-ons from third parties. Free and open-source software (FOSS) shall be run, distributed, sold, or extended for any purpose, and -being open- shall be modified or reversed in

1512-409: The same way. FOSS software applications released under a free license may be perpetual and also royalty-free . Perhaps, the owner , the holder or third-party enforcer of any right ( copyright , trademark , patent , or ius in re aliena ) are entitled to add exceptions, limitations, time decays or expiring dates to the license terms of use. Public-domain software is a type of FOSS which

1554-411: The server again. Cached items are usually only stored for as long as the web server stipulates in its HTTP response messages. During the course of browsing, cookies received from various websites are stored by the browser. Some of them contain login credentials or site preferences. However, others are used for tracking user behavior over long periods of time, so browsers typically provide a section in

1596-458: The software itself; e.g., the package may fail to function over a network. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) defines "open source software" (i.e., free software or free and open-source software), as distinct from "freeware" or "shareware"; it is software where "the Government does not have access to the original source code". The "free" in "freeware" refers to the price of the software, which

1638-795: The user, as in the case of software used to control a VCR , DVD player, or microwave oven . The above definitions may exclude some applications that may exist on some computers in large organizations. For an alternative definition of an app: see Application Portfolio Management . The word "application" used as an adjective is not restricted to the "of or on application software" meaning. For example, concepts such as application programming interface (API), application server , application virtualization , application lifecycle management and portable application apply to all computer programs alike, not just application software. Some applications are available in versions for several different platforms; others only work on one and are thus called, for example,

1680-402: The world, enabling people to access data-intensive content, such as streaming HD video on YouTube , that was not possible during the era of dial-up modems . Google Chrome has been the dominant browser since the mid-2010s and currently has a 67% global market share on all devices. The vast majority of its source code comes from Google's open-source Chromium project; this code is also

1722-502: Was part of its Windows operating system or a separate piece of application software. As another example, the GNU/Linux naming controversy is, in part, due to disagreement about the relationship between the Linux kernel and the operating systems built over this kernel . In some types of embedded systems , the application software and the operating system software may be indistinguishable from

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1764-509: Was restricted to "authoritative source"[s]. Thus web sites and blogs are the primary resource for information on which freeware is available, useful, and is not malware . However, there are also many computer magazines or newspapers that provide ratings for freeware and include compact discs or other storage media containing freeware. Freeware is also often bundled with other products such as digital cameras or scanners . Freeware has been criticized as "unsustainable" because it requires

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