Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer for Windows v.6 with Google toolbar
click for larger version
Internet Explorer for Mac OS X 5.2.3 (Discontinued)

Internet Explorer, abbreviated IE or MSIE, is a web browser from Microsoft, currently (as of 2003) in version 6.0 SP1 (version 5.2.3 for OS X and 5.1.7 for the classic Mac OS). Internet Explorer is a very popular web browser, for reasons that include the fact that it comes built into various versions of Microsoft Windows and used to be the default browser on the Mac OS before it was replaced by Apple's own Safari Web Browser. Internet Explorer was cited as an example of questionable product bundling in Microsoft's anti-trust case with the United States Department of Justice. Microsoft required many OEM computer manufacturers to include Internet Explorer in the copies of Windows they installed on systems they shipped, and would not allow the manufacturer to put an icon for any other web browser on the default desktop in place of Internet Explorer.

Widespread exploitation of Internet Explorer's security holes has earned IE a reputation as the least secure of the major browsers (Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Opera, and Konqueror). Microsoft has issued many IE security patches.

The rendering engine for the Windows version of MSIE is used in alternative interfaces, such as Crazy Browser, NetCaptor, NeoPlanet, and MyIE2.

Internet Explorer started out as the Spyglass browser before being bought by Microsoft. Spyglass in turn was based on the Mosaic web browser from NCSA, one of the first graphical web browsers.

Table of contents

1 MS Windows version Release History
2 Future Developments
3 Alternatives
4 External links

MS Windows version Release History

Version 1.0 (Final) -- August 1995
Version 2.0 (Final) -- November 1995
Version 3.0 (Final) -- August 1996
Version 4.0 (Final) -- October 1997
Version 5.0 (Final) -- March 1999
Version 5.5 (Final) -- July 2000
Version 6.0 (Final) -- October 2001

Future Developments

In June, 2003, Microsoft announced that it was ceasing further development of the Apple Macintosh version of MSIE (which uses Tasman as its rendering engine, opposed to Windows MSIE), since Apple has developed its own browser, currently known as Safari.

In a May 7 2003 interview published on a Microsoft webpage, Brian Countryman, Internet Explorer Program Manager declared that Internet Explorer will cease to exist as an independent program (IE 6 being the last standalone version), and will be continued as a part of the Microsoft Windows operating system product evolution.

Alternatives

See also: History of the Internet