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Just as desktop software applications have been bundled together into suites such as (ie Microsoft office), the same is happening with Internet applications. E-mail, newsgroups and FTP were all separate applications not long ago. Now these features have been intergrated within the most popular browsers. The value to the user is the increased ease of use and seemless environment. New applications are being developed everyday. These include Shockwave, Acrobat, and 3D vitual reality viewers. To keep up with the rapid pace, browsers allow for these applications to be plugged in to the application. How do plugins work? When a browser is asked to access a file that it does recognize it looks through an association file maintained by the browser. If the user has associated the requested file type with an application on their PC then the browser can launch the application. Otherwise, it displays a message that it does not know what to do with the file. Driving Force: This trend is driven by the need to simplify Internet access.

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