Internet Explorer

Also called: Windows Internet Explorer, IE or Microsoft Internet Explorer(MSIE)

Internet Explorer is an Internet browser developed by Microsoft. Using Internet Explorer, websites can be accessed and displayed from the worldwide web. With the introduction of Windows 10, Microsoft launched an entirely new browser called Edge.

Versions of Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer 1.0 was launched in August 1995. For installation, users at that time still had to rely on a CD-ROM, for example from their Internet provider or the Windows Plus! extension for Windows 95. The most popular browser at that time was still Netscape, which, like IE, was based on Mosaic.

In the beginning, new versions of Internet Explorer followed each other in rapid succession. New features such as tables, cookies, JScript, CSS and frames were added again and again. Internet Explorer 6, released in August 2001, was the most popular browser on the Internet for some time. Partly because a successor was more than 5 years in the making.

This wait was rewarded in 2006 with needed improvements within Internet Explorer 7. Versions 7 and 8 focused on better compliance with official Web standards. Starting with version 9 in 2011, better website performance was the main focus. Version 11 came with better tools for developers. From this version on, the browser was provided with regular interim updates.

Popularity and controversy

In a fairly short time after its introduction, Internet Explorer managed to become the most widely used Web browser. At its peak in 2002, Internet Explorer's market share was over 90%. This was mainly because Microsoft included the browser as standard with new installations of the Windows operating system.

This advantageous position came to an end in 2009 when the European Commission required Microsoft to offer users a choice of browsers when installing Windows, including Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome in addition to Internet Explorer. Partly because of this, Internet Explorer lost a lot of market share to Mozilla Firefox and later Google Chrome in particular.

The browser war between Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator in the 1990s resulted in new features being added at a rapid pace. Once this war was won by Microsoft, development of the browser was put on hold. From 2001 to 2006, no new version was released. Internet Explorer developed a not too good image among Web developers at that time. Many features of the browser deviated from Web standards. This made it difficult to develop websites that worked identically in different browsers. In later versions, IE managed to shake off this reputation somewhat.

Over the years, Internet Explorer was also regularly in the news negatively because of the lack of security in various versions.

Along with the launch of Windows 10 in 2015, Microsoft promised to revamp users' browser experience. To achieve this and draw a line under IE's past, a completely new browser called Edge was launched.