Pei-Yuan Wei
Template:Short description Template:Update Pei-Yuan Wei (Template:Zh; d. 2023<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>) was a Taiwanese-American businessman who created ViolaWWW, the first popular graphical web browser.
Career
Pei-Yuan Wei was born in Pingtung County, Taiwan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He graduated from Berkeley High School Template:Citation needed in 1986. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and was a member of the student club, the eXperimental Computing Facility (XCF).Template:Citation needed
In the 1990s, Wei was a founding employee of Global Network Navigator, one of the first Internet-based businesses. Later he worked for various Palm OS-related businesses. Since 2008, Perry has lived in both Taiwan and the US, devoting most of his time to taking care of his ill family member.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Controversy
Pei-Yuan Wei was at the center of a controversy over patents relating to embedded objects in a web browser,<ref name="ZDNet2003_10_03">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Times2005_03_04">Template:Cite web</ref> which revolves around whether his browser, ViolaWWW, had the capability to launch embedded objects, prior to the date a patent was filed by Michael David Doyle of Eolas, and the University of California.<ref name="ZDNet2003_10_03"/> If it did, it would constitute prior art, which may invalidate the patent issued to Eolas.<ref name="ZDNet2003_10_03"/><ref name="Times2005_03_04"/> If it did not, in addition to major financial penalties against such companies as Microsoft, the way the World Wide Web and the way browsers that surf it work may be forced to change.<ref name="ZDNet2003_10_03"/>
Eolas' claim was eventually found invalid by a Texas court.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
References
External links
- Pei's Home Page (archive.org 2010-10-18)
- Viola Home Page (archive.org 2022-03-31)