The major (pre HTML 4.0) html commands for shockwave

Not surprisingly the early browsers and operating systems had compatibility problems with shockwave. For instance IE supported the "object"tag which was totally ignored by Navigator. Navigator in turn supported the (universal prior to IE3 release)"embed"tag which was totally ignored by IE.
Are you wringing your hands in despair yet?

The < OBJECT> tag works fine on all platforms using HTML 4.0 compliant browsers

But if you're still dealing with an ausience which uses earlier platforms/browsers, read on:

Browser responses to"embed" and "object" tags
Browsers Shockwave movie place with the"embed"tag Shockwave movie place with the"object"tag
Netscape 2.0 or later with shockwave plug-in displays movie ignores tag and displays nothing
Netscape 2.0 or later without shockwave plug-in prompts to download shockwave ignores tag and displays nothing
Internet explorer 3.0 with shockwave control displays movie checks contol version;displays movie
Internet explorer 3.0 without shockwave control ignores tag and displays nothing installs contol;displays movie

Example