The browser released by NCSA in 1993 that helped popularize the World Wide Web was Mosaic. Known more formally as NCSA Mosaic, it made browsing approachable by combining a graphical interface with inline images and support for several Internet protocols.
Mosaic was developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina began work on it in late 1992, and the first public release appeared in January 1993. Version 1.0 followed in April, with ports for Windows and Macintosh released later that year, helping the browser reach users beyond Unix workstations.
Mosaic was not the first web browser, and it was eventually overtaken by Netscape Navigator. However, its ease of installation, visual design, reliability, and ability to display graphics alongside text helped turn the Web from an academic and technical system into a mass-market medium. Microsoft later licensed Spyglass Mosaic technology for early Internet Explorer development, though Spyglass Mosaic was distinct from the original NCSA browser.