In this blog post, we will look at the changes that the development of web browser technology has brought to the Internet environment, from the emergence of plug-ins to their elimination.
Since the Internet became widely available to the public in the 1990s, web browsers have become a part of our lives as a window for using the Internet. In the mid-to-late 1990s, when web browsers began to become popular, Netscape and Internet Explorer were the main tools for using the Internet at the time. After that, Internet Explorer dominated the market, ushering in an era of monopoly, and a few years later, various new browsers emerged, leading to a full-scale competition between web browsers. Through these changes, web browsers have developed rapidly along with the history of the Internet. As a result, the development process of web browsers has come to represent the evolution of the Internet.
For this reason, there is a view that “the history of the Internet is the history of web browsers.” But this is not the whole story. The history of web browsers is not limited to technological development. It is intertwined with various social issues such as security issues, compatibility issues, and user experience issues. These issues have become increasingly important as web browsers have evolved, and browser plugins have played a particularly important role in supplementing the functionality of web browsers.
The term browser plugin may be somewhat unfamiliar, but Active X and Adobe Flash are exactly what they are, and Koreans have probably installed them at least once. Plug-ins were developed to provide more diverse content over the Internet, but the problems that arose as a result of this gradually came to the fore and became the subject of controversy. Do you remember the “Cheonsong-yi Coat” incident, which became a major social issue a long time ago? This is an incident in which overseas fans tried to purchase the coat worn by the main character of the drama “My Love from the Star,” Jeon Ji-hyun, but were unable to complete the payment due to plugins that were forcibly installed in the shopping mall system in Korea. This incident is a representative example that clearly reveals the problems of the Internet environment in Korea, and it has caused controversy over how closed and inconvenient the Internet environment in Korea is compared to that in other countries.
Why were these browser plugins created, what role did they play, and why have they gradually become problematic? The early Internet, or the World Wide Web, was created for the purpose of academic research and sharing of research results. Early web browsers had only the minimum functions to display text and images. However, as the Internet became more popular and users’ needs became more diverse, the basic functions of the browser itself could no longer meet the needs of users. To meet this need, various browser plug-ins have been developed. Among the plug-ins that have expanded the functionality of browsers to support more content, the most representative ones are “Java Applet,” “NPAPI (Netscape Plugin API),” “Active X,” “Flash,” and “Silverlight.”
These plugins have been used in various areas, including games, videos, and payment systems, and have contributed to providing a convenient internet environment. For example, Flash enabled high-definition animations and videos to run in web browsers in the early days of the internet, and ActiveX supported various functions, including security programs. However, the excessive use of plugins has also caused many problems. First, there were serious security vulnerabilities. Since the plug-in runs outside the browser, using a plug-in containing malicious code could have caused serious damage to the entire system. In addition, these plugins often only work with certain browsers, which has led to problems where users are forced to use a specific browser. As these problems have combined to make plugins increasingly the subject of criticism, various efforts have begun around the world to improve them.
The need for plugins has also been gradually reduced due to technological advancements. In recent years, as web standards have been established, most browsers have been able to support multimedia content by default, and the performance of JavaScript engines has been greatly improved, making it possible to run various content without plugins. Thanks to these changes, major companies such as Google and Microsoft have gradually stopped supporting plugins in their browsers. For example, Google has stopped supporting NPAPI in its Chrome browser, and Microsoft has also stopped supporting ActiveX and Silverlight in its Edge browser. In particular, since Apple’s Steve Jobs stopped supporting Flash in the mobile environment, Flash content has become unavailable on most mobile devices.
So, what is the current situation in South Korea? Fortunately, the government, businesses, and academia are aware of these problems and are making various efforts to eliminate browser plug-ins. The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning of Korea announced the ‘Active X Free Plan’ to reduce the reliance of Korean websites on plug-ins. However, many sites still rely on plug-ins, which makes it inconvenient for users to use the sites on the latest browsers. In order for our Internet environment to develop into a safer and more convenient one, the government and companies will need to speed up the introduction of web standard technologies. Users will also need to avoid sites that require plug-ins and work to promote healthy changes in the Internet ecosystem.
