Microsoft’s Internet Explorer wasn’t the world’s first web browser, but thanks to the dominance of the Windows OS, it quickly became the most used. Some swore by it, others preferred alternatives such as Netscape, and later Firefox and Chrome. Nearly 20 years after its launch, Microsoft is preparing to retire the IE name – with Windows 10 will come a new browser moniker. So let’s take a look back at 11 editions of Internet Explorer.
Launch date: August 16, 1995
Notable: Based on Spyglass Mosaic, it was released with Windows 95
Launch date: November 22, 1995
Notable: Added SSL, cookies and an integrated email and news client.
Launch date: August 13, 1996
Notable: Added Cascading Style Sheets support, support for ActiveX controls and Java applets. First version to use the blue “e” logo.
Launch date: September 4, 1997
Notable: Marketing slogan was “The Web the Way You Want It.” Integration with the OS led to the United States vs. Microsoft anti-competitive case.
Launch date: March 18, 1999
Notable: Launched with Windows 98, and reached over 80 per cent market share.
Launch date: August 27, 2001
Notable: Shipped with Windows XP, and peaked at 90 per cent market share. It faced criticism over alleged security flaws.
Launch date: October 18, 2006
Notable: First major update in five years, introduced tabbed browsing, page zooming and an integrated search box.
Launch date: March 19, 2009
Notable: Launched with Windows 7, and was the last version to run on Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP.
Launch date: March 14, 2011
Notable: Wasn’t tied to an OS upgrade, and featured the marketing slogan “Fast is the new beautiful, Welcome to a more beautiful web.”
Launch date: October 26, 2012
Notable: Features two different interfaces: a Metro app without plug-in support and a desktop version with plug-in support.
Launch date: October 17, 2013
Notable: The last version of Internet Explorer, it performed better than Firefox and Chrome on several speed benchmarks.