In this data visualization I only include desktop web browsers, so no mobile web browsers. So the numbers will be different after 2008, when smartphones took off. Like the previous visualization this one goes back to the first graphical web browser, Mosaic. Before Mosaic most users browsed the web either with a text based web browser such as Lynx or using Nexus which had a graphical interface, which was easier to use. 1993 Mosaic First graphical web browser, Mosaic brought the web to life with inline images and links. 1994 Netscape Navigator Launched at $49 with a 90 day trial 1995 Opera Launched to the public as trialware Internet Explorer That same year IE launched as free add-on to Windows 95 1996 Marc Andreessen co-founded both, Mosaic and Netscape 1997 Netscape held 70% of the market but IE being free and part of Windows was gaining fast. This forced Netscape to became freeware. 1998 Microsoft was taken to court for violating antitrust laws 1999 America Online acquired Netscape for $4.2 billion dollars 2000 Microsoft was found guilty and decided to split IE from Windows 2001 IE was the official winner of the first browser war 2002 Firefox Beta launched, originally called Phoenix, then Firebird 2003 Safari 1.0 released by Apple 2004 Firefox 1.0 finally released to the public 2005 Free Opera Opera browser becomes freeware 2006 IE 7.0 Microsoft reintegrated IE into Windows 2008 Netscape Ends Netscape Navigator is discontinued after version 9 2008 Chrome 1.0 Google releases Chrome 2009 Mobile Web Mobile browsers and apps start reducing desktop use 2010 Firefox 3.6 Firefox introduces Personas theme engine with version 3.6 2011 IE 9 Introduced new interface 2012 Chrome overtakes IE 2013 IE 11 Final version of IE 2014 Opera 19 Introduced Workspaces feature to organize tabs 2015 Edge Microsoft launches Edge to replace IE 2016 Opera 40 Launches with free VPN & battery saver mode 2017 Firefox 55 Included VR capability 2018 Opera 50 Included an anti-Bitcoin mining tool 2019 Firefox 70 Featured Dark Mode & Tracker Blocker 2020 Edge Microsoft introduced Chromium-based Edge and a new logo. 2021 Chrome Google begins development of an alternative to cookies to protect user privacy. What is your favorite desktop browser?