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Can Java applets be viewed in a web browser on Windows 3.1x?

Yes, finally. As of December 13, 1996, Netscape has announced that a beta browser 3.01 with Java support is now available for Windows 3.1. Microsoft still promises a similar thing within one month. When I first researched this question December 8, the results were as follows:

The answer, in short, is no. Netscape admits on their site, under Java Support under the Netscape 3.0 Index, that "Netscape...provides support for Java applets and programs on... Windows95 and NT..."

Microsoft is not so straightforward with comments on Java, but they do note on their Java Support Page that "Now that you've installed Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0, you can view the many Java ^TM applets available. on the Web." If you tried to download IE 3.0 in November 1996 you would have noticed that it was only available for Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 95.

Update: Effective early December 1996, Internet Explorer 3.0 was released for Windows 3.1x and Windows NT 3.51. There is no mention of Java on the "Whats New in IE 3.0 for 3.1" page or the "IE 3.0 for 3.1 Technical White Sheet." A post dated December 10, 1996 in the USENET newsgroup microsoft.public.internetexplorer.win3.1x notes:

Subject: Re: IE 3.0 and Java does not work?? Date: Tue, 10 Dec 1996 16:39:27 GMT

From: lensmith@mta-usa.org (Leonard H. Smith)

Organization: Market Technicians Association

Newsgroups: microsoft.public.internetexplorer.win3.1x References: 1

On Tue, 10 Dec 1996 01:18:18 -0800, "Kent Eriksson" <ker@vallviks-bruk.se> wrote:

>I can't see any Java-pages. Wasn´t that supposed to work in this version?

I have the same problem...

On December 11, 1996, an unofficial document from C|NET notes that "Microsoft promises a Win3.1 Java add-on within a month [for IE 3.0]..."

-Jesse Ferrell