Fifteen years ago this month LII’s director and co-founder Tom Bruce released the first web browser for Windows. June 8, 1993 is the anniversary of the 0.1 release, with a succession of follow-up releases soon after: Cello 0.2 on June 14th, 0.3 on June 16th, 0.4 on June 18th, 0.5 on June 24th, and 0.6 on June 30th. For good or ill, the web browser didn’t catch on — though it did incorporate some features that have only recently been incorporated into mainstream browsers, and it went on to live a brief existence as the underpinning of a couple of commercial products.

Asked to comment on the fifteenth anniversary of Cello, Tom said something about it being a long time ago and his head still hurts. We aren’t worried. He’s invented a lot more fun toys to play with in the mean time, all to the benefit of open-access information technology — and for those who comprise the LII’s 10 million hits a week.