Microsoft's browser is 15 years old today. The browser's roots are far older though. Development at the National Center for Super Computing Applications (NCSA) produced 1987's Mosaic browser. The tech was transferred to a company called Spyglass which in turn licensed it to Microsoft.
The browser wasn't launched with Windows 95 (which launched 15 years ago next week) but was part of the Windows 95 Plus Pack. This included a component called the Internet Jumpstart Kit now replaced by the Internet Connection Wizard.
An interesting fact is that a lot of the team that created Mosaic went on to develop Netscape Navigator, the forerunner to Firefox.
Let's take a quick look at how the browser has evolved over the last decade and a half.
Internet Explorer 1.0 - 1995
The original IE was just 1MB in size but was extremely limited in functionality. Version 1.5 was released several months later for Windows NT, the business version of Windows that went on to become Windows 2000 before being adopted as the codebase for Windows XP.
Internet Explorer 2.0 - 1995
Version 2.0 added support for web technologies such as SSL, cookies and newsgroups. Web pages remained very, very grey.
Internet Explorer 3.0 - 1996
When the OEM version of Windows 95 was updated in 1996, it was shipped with IE3. As Microsoft made no money from IE, it was still only paying Spyglass a nominal fee. Internet Mail and News was also included.
Internet Explorer 4.0 - 1997
Another revamp of the Windows 95 OEM version resulted in IE4 and overlapped into the Windows 98 era. The rubbish Active Desktop was included (so you could embed a webpage on the desktop). DHTML was also supported and Outlook Express 4.0 was included with the download.
Internet Explorer 5.0 - 1999
CSS Level 1 and 2 support joined some text enhancements on the feature list for IE5, which was superseded by version 5.5 when the truly woeful Windows Me hit the shelves in July 2000.
Internet Explorer 6.0 - 2001
The Windows XP browser IE6 remains a staple on many desktops, much to the annoyance of many a web designer. It was a long-lasting version, thanks to the longevity of XP and the antitrust battles that Microsoft had to face.
Internet Explorer 7.0 - 2006
Microsoft had to respond to increased competition, originally from Mozilla. Indeed, IE7 saw the light of day in October 2006, when Firefox 2.0 was also released. The browser became a standalone application from the OS for the first time.
Internet Explorer 8.0 - 2009
Offering increased standards support for web standards, IE8 was beta released in March 2008 and also introduced some new features such as Web Slices and anti-phishing tech.
Internet Explorer 9.0 - 2010
IE9 will be faster, smoother and better at CSS, says Microsoft. Get the lowdown on the new version of the browser.
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Your comments (6) Click to add a new comment
smokemonster
August 17th 2010
6. Yes, let's raise a glass to IE and hope that it soon becomes the least used browser on the net.
For a software company MS are pretty cr@p really aren't they?
But then I yell at my Vista laptop everyday so maybe I'm biased. Come on Chrome OS, where are you?
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dpetersep
August 17th 2010
5. I might be an understatement to say I have a mild dislike for Internet Explorer, but thinking back on it, the other browsers probably wouldn't be as good as they are without Microsoft's competition.
To IE!
http://www.searchenginepartner.com
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mohai
August 17th 2010
4. It definitely is the biggest browser alright! ;)
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knowledgenotebook
August 16th 2010
3. It's a marked improvement for sure for speed and HTML5 support. What would be desirable is its support for XP OS as well.
Personally I use all 3 major browsers, that is, Firefox and IE and occasionally Chrome for testing purpose.
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bradavon
August 16th 2010
2. It's hard to believe IE6 is a decade old next year and we're still stuck with it's legacy! Including far too many businesses still using it.
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bradavon
August 16th 2010
1. "The browser wasn't launched with Windows 95 (which launched 15 years ago next week) but was part of the Windows 95 Plus Pack."
Not so. Internet Explorer 1.0 shipped with Windows 95 and Internet Explorer 2.0 shipped at the same time with Windows 95 Plus!
It wasn't until IE3 it was taken seriously though.
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