Cello (web browser)

Cello

Company type	Shareware
Industry	Web browser software
Founded	1993
Founder	Thomas R. Bruce
Defunct	1994
Headquarters	Ithaca , United States
Products	Web browser
Owner	Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School

Cello was an early graphical web browser designed for Windows 3.1, developed by Thomas R. Bruce at the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School. Introduced as shareware in 1993, it holds the distinction of being the first web browser compatible with Microsoft Windows, utilizing the winsock protocol to connect to the Internet. It was also operable on Windows NT 3.5 and, with slight adjustments, on OS/2.

The browser was developed in response to the needs of legal practitioners who primarily operated on Windows platforms, unlike earlier browsers such as the initial release of Mosaic, which were built for Unix systems. The lack of a Windows-compatible browser restricted access to legal resources available via hypertext on the World Wide Web. Cello experienced a surge in use during 1993 and 1994 but lost traction following the emergence of Windows versions of Mosaic and Netscape Navigator, resulting in its development being discontinued.

Cello’s public debut occurred on 8 June 1993, with its final public update, version 1.01a, released on 16 April 1994. Although a version 2.0 was announced, it never reached completion. The Legal Information Institute later licensed the source code for Cello 2.0 for commercial software development purposes.

Previously hosted on Cornell’s website, Cello is no longer available there but can still be found through various mirror sites.

Development and history

Work on Cello commenced in 1992, with beta releases targeted for June 1993 and an official launch planned for July 1993. The project was publicly disclosed on 12 April 1993.

The Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School pioneered the first legal website in 1993 after establishing the initial law site on the Internet in 1992. Since no web browsers existed for the widely used Microsoft Windows operating system at that time, the institute undertook development of the first Windows-based web browser to facilitate access for legal professionals to their site. This initiative received funding from the National Center for Automated Information Research.

During this period, most browsers relied on UNIX-centric WWW libraries from CERN (libwww) that were too resource-intensive for standard PCs. To address this, Thomas Bruce extensively rewrote these WWW libraries to operate efficiently within Windows environments. Unlike many contemporary commercial browsers, Cello did not incorporate source code from Mosaic, resulting in a unique user interface and feature set.

In June 1994, Steven Sinofsky, then president of Microsoft's Windows division, indicated that there were no intentions to bundle client software like Mosaic or Cello with Windows 95. However, Microsoft subsequently licensed Mosaic technology from Spyglass on 11 January 1995 to develop its own browser, Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer 1 was released on 15 August 1995 for Windows 95; although it did not come pre-installed with the initial OS launch, it was included as part of Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95.

Usage

Introduced in 1993, Cello stood as the sole web browser available for the Microsoft Windows environment at that time, quickly attracting users with daily downloads reaching approximately 500 copies. It found significant popularity within the legal sector, where its user base was estimated between 150,000 and 200,000 individuals. By 1994, most internet users accessed websites through either Cello or the Mosaic browser. Although it offered fewer functionalities compared to Mosaic, Cello maintained its appeal due to a more straightforward user interface and lower hardware demands. Additionally, it was lauded for its simple installation process, as it did not require Win32s or a TCP/IP stack on Windows 3.1 systems.

With the launch of Windows 95, which incorporated enhanced TCP/IP capabilities, Cello's significance diminished, leading to its eventual discontinuation. By 1995, newer browsers like Netscape and Internet Explorer had surpassed Cello in popularity. By the end of the decade, in 1999, it was regarded as a "historical" browser.

Cello is acknowledged as one of the early browsers that fell victim during the initial browser wars.

Features

Among its capabilities, Cello provided:

In contrast to Mosaic, Cello featured only three toolbar buttons—Up/Back, Stop, and Home—with most functionality accessible via drop-down menus.

Supported Protocols

Cello was compatible with HTTP 1.0, Gopher (excluding Gopher+), read-only FTP, SMTP email sending, Telnet, Usenet, direct CSO/ph/qi access, WAIS, HyTelnet, TechInfo, Archie, X.500 directory services, TN3270 terminal emulation, and others through public gateways.

Supported FTP Servers

It operated effectively with a broad range of FTP servers including Unix variants (SunOS, System V, Linux), IBM VM, VMS platforms, Windows NT servers, QVTNet, NCSA/CUTCP/Rutgers PC servers, FTP Software PC server solutions, and HellSoft NLM for Novell networks.

Internet Connection

Optimal performance was achieved using direct Ethernet connections; however, Cello also supported SLIP and PPP dial-up connections via asynchronous sockets. The browser included a built-in TCP/IP runtime stack.

Release history

The versions released are listed below:

16-bit Cello Versions

Version	Release Date	Development Stage	Executable Size (kb)	Download Link	Remarks
0.1	8 June 1993	Beta	347	evolt	Requires Distinct for operation
0.2	14 June 1993	Beta	Template:Dunno	Template:Dunno	Changelog
0.3	16 June 1993	Beta	Template:Dunno	Template:Dunno	Changelog
0.4	18 June 1993	Beta	Template:Dunno	Template:Dunno	Changelog
0.5	24 June 1993	Beta	Template:Dunno	Template:Dunno	Changelog
0.6	30 June 1993	Beta	Template:Dunno	Template:Dunno	Changelog
WINSOCK alpha r3	6 September 1993	Alpha	374	[1]	Limited functionality: browser sends only GET requests; no support for redirects.
WINSOCK alpha r6	14 October 1993	Alpha	362	[2] (cello-ws.zip)	Retains the same limitations as r3.
0.8	5 November 1993	Beta	—	—	Discontinued Distinct-based version.
0.9 (Beta-pre)	12 November 1993	Beta-preliminary	Template:Dunno	Template:Dunno
0.9 (Beta)	16 November 1993	Beta	487	[3]	Supports redirections but employs an incorrect GET protocol version; crashes when encountering unsupported image formats.
0.9 WINSOCK alpha r9.2	22 November 1993	Alpha	494	[4]	Previous beta issues remain; requires the img tag's src attribute to be positioned last.
1.0	17 February 1994	Official Release	Template:Dunno	evolt
1.01	Template:Dunno	Release	Template:Dunno
1.01a	17 March 1994	Release	521	[5], evolt
2.0	—	Alpha stage	—	—	Development was halted before public distribution; this was the first iteration to introduce HTML form support.

On February 9, 1994, IBM released a patch for their TCP/IP V2.0 stack to ensure Cello compatibility within OS/2 WinOS/2 environments.

Browser comparison table

Presented below is a comparison of Cello alongside other browsers from the same era, emphasizing features significant to enterprise users.

Web Browser Feature Comparison

Browser Name		Cello	NCSA X-Mosaic	NCSA Mosaic	Netscape Navigator	Spyglass Mosaic	AIR Mosaic	InternetWorks	Win-Tapestry	IBM WebExplorer
Supported OS		Windows	UNIX	Windows	Windows	Windows	Windows	Windows	Windows	OS/2
Version Number		1	2.4	2.0 alpha 3	1	1.02	3.06	Beta 4	1.67	0.91

Derivatives

• The initial release of BURKS, a non-profit CD-ROM initiative aimed at Computer Science learners, was developed using Cello as its foundation.
• InterAp, created by California Software Inc, originated from Cello and incorporated a web browser equipped with Telnet, FTP capabilities, and a scripting language compatible with Visual Basic named NetScripts.
• A variant of Lovelace was distributed alongside Cello.

Technical

At first, Cello depended on the TCP/IP stack provided by Distinct Corporation; however, starting with Beta Version 0.8, it transitioned to rely solely on Winsock.

Although Cello could operate on OS/2, the Winsock implementation in OS/2 contained bugs (APAR #PN52335) that initially hindered Internet connectivity; these issues were later resolved to enable full functionality.

The user agent string utilized by Cello is LII-Cello/<version> libwww/2.5.

DDE support

Cello supported Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE). While there were intentions to include OLE and DDE client capabilities, these features were never brought to release.

Below is an example demonstrating how to launch Cello from a Microsoft Word macro: <syntaxhighlight lang="vbscript"> Sub MAIN ChanNum = DDEInitiate("Cello", "URL") DDEExecute(ChanNum, "http://www.law.cornell.edu") DDETerminate(ChanNum) End Sub </syntaxhighlight>

System requirements

The specifications needed for running Cello include:

• Processor: Intel 80386 (386SX) at a minimum clock speed of 16 MHz
• Operating system: Compatible with Windows 3.1 / 3.11 / NT 3.5 / OS/2
• Memory: At least 2 MB RAM required; 4 MB recommended for optimal performance
• A TCP/IP network connection that supports Winsock

Criticism

Cello experienced frequent stability problems and its development was discontinued prematurely. It exhibited poor handling of graphic elements and necessitated page reloads when window sizes changed. Like many early web browsers, it lacked essential web security features. Its HTML rendering engine was rudimentary, often resulting in uneven page layouts. Additionally, its performance in internet connectivity and hypermedia processing was considered inadequate.

See also

• Lynx
• Mosaic
• MacWeb
• Libwww