Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser has compelling life story and was a principal combatant in both major browser wars. Of course, IE won the first war against Netscape, but lost the second to Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari.



While most people associate IE with the Windows operating system, Microsoft actually developed versions of the browser for the Macintosh, UNIX, Xbox, and their now-defunct mobile OSes Windows CE and Windows Phone.



At its peak, Internet Explorer was estimated to have over 90% of browser market share in the 2003-2004 period. It's dominance in the early 2000s was a key issue in the US Government's antitrust suit against Microsoft. Fast forward to 2019, and IE has around 2% market share, with its successor Microsoft Edge also accounting for approximately 2%.



The visual history of Internet Explorer truly matches the evolution of the world wide web itself. Enjoy the ride.

Microsoft Internet Explorer Logo History

Internet Explorer Logo History (2019)

Source: fandom.com

Internet Explorer 1.0 (1995)

Internet Explorer 1.0 Showing msn.com Homepage (1995)

Source: wordpress.com Internet Explorer 1.0 Showing Yahoo.com Homepage (1995)

Source: pcworld.com Internet Explorer 1.0 About Dialog Box (1995)

Source: betaarchive.com

Internet Explorer 2.0 (1995)

As one can tell, the default background color for browsers in this time period was gray, rather than white.

Internet Explorer 3.0 (1996)

Internet Explorer 3.0 for Windows (1996)

Source: thewindowsclub.com Internet Explorer 3.0 for Windows (1996)

Source: my-internet-explorer.com Internet Explorer 3.0 File Download (1996)

Source: scarabeus86 Internet Explorer 3.0 Script Error (1996)

Source: twitter.com Internet Explorer 3.0 Attempting to Render Google.com (2009)

Source: scarabeus86 Internet Explorer 3.0 Attempting to Render Google.com (2014)

Source: AdmiralHackIt

Internet Explorer 4 (1997)

Internet Explorer 4.0 for Windows (Italian) (1997)

Source: wikipedia.org Internet Explorer 4.0 for Windows On Desktop (1997)

Source: playground.ru Internet Explorer 4.0 for Windows Showing Wikipedia (1997)

Source: wikipedia.org Internet Explorer 4.0 for Mac on Mac OS 8 (1997)

Source: lowendmac.com Internet Explorer 4.01 for Mac Showing Yahoo.com (1997)

Source: macintoshgarden.org Internet Explorer 4.0 for Unix (Solaris) (1998)

Source: winworldpc.com Internet Explorer 4.0 Attempting to Render Google.com (2012)

Source: Win2KFan

Internet Explorer 5 (1999)

Microsoft IE 5 was the last version developed for the Mac platform. Microsoft released 5.2.3 for Mac OS X in June 2003 and 5.1.7 for Mac OS System 8 and 9 in July 2003.

Internet Explorer 5.0 for Windows Showing Wikipedia (1999)

Source: wikipedia.org Internet Explorer 5.0 for Windows (1999)

Source: betaarchive.com Internet Explorer 5.0 for Mac (1999)

Source: wikipedia.org Internet Explorer 5.1 for Mac (2001)

Source: wordpress.com Internet Explorer 5.2 for Mac (Japanese) (2001)

Source: hatenablog.com Internet Explorer 5 for Mac Preferences (2001)

Source: wap.org

Internet Explorer 6 (2001)

Microsoft IE 6 was the longest-lived version of the browser. Launched in 2001, it didn't get replaced by IE 7 until 2006. Presumably, Microsoft had little incentive to innovate in this area, given their browser market share was north of 80% from 2000 to 2007. Netscape ceased to be a threat in the early 2000s, and it wasn't until Mozilla launched the Firefox browser in 2002 that there was a truly viable alternative to IE 6. Google's Chrome browser wasn't launched until September 2008.

Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP Desktop (2001)

Source: theverge.com Internet Explorer 6 About Dialog (2001)

Source: statetechmagazine.com Internet Explorer 6 Showing Wikipedia Homepage (2001)

Source: wikipedia.org Internet Explorer 6 Showing Wikipedia (Italian) (2001)

Source: wikipedia.org

Internet Explorer 7 (2006)

Internet Explorer 7 About Dialog (2006)

Source: my-internet-explorer.com Internet Explorer 7 Showing Wikipedia (Italian) (2006)

Source: wikipedia.org Internet Explorer 7 Tools Menu (2006)

Source: softpedia.com

Internet Explorer 8 (2009)

Internet Explorer 8 About Dialog (2009)

Source: my-internet-explorer.com Internet Explorer 8 Showing Wikipedia (German) (2009)

Source: wikipedia.org Internet Explorer 8 About Dialog (2009)

Source: redmondpie.com

Internet Explorer 9 (2011)

Internet Explorer 9 (2011)

Source: betaarchive.com Internet Explorer 9 Settings/Internet Options (2011)

Source: blogspot.com Internet Explorer 9 Multicolored Tabs (2011)

Source: wordpress.com Internet Explorer 9 New Tab Popular Sites (2011)

Source: wordpress.com Internet Explorer 9 InPrivate Mode (2011)

Source: blogspot.com

Internet Explorer 10 (2012)

Internet Explorer 10 Welcome Screen (2012)

Source: refugeeks.com Internet Explorer 10 Showing Wikipedia (German) (2012)

Source: wikipedia.org Internet Explorer 10 About Dialog (2012)

Source: softpedia.com Internet Explorer 10 Windows 8 Metro Interface (2012)

Source: digit.in Internet Explorer 10 Windows 8 Metro Interface (2012)

Source: eightforums.com

Internet Explorer 11 (2013)

Microsoft announced that IE 11 would be the final iteration of this browser, to be replaced with Microsoft's Edge browser.

Internet Explorer 11 Welcome Screen (2013)

Source: windows10portal.com Internet Explorer 11 Frequent Sites and About Dialog (2013)

Source: favbrowser.com Internet Explorer 11 Showing Wikipedia (2013)

Source: wikipedia.org Internet Explorer 11 Showing Google (2013)

Source: nordvpn.com Internet Explorer 11 Touch Screen Tab Preview (2013)

Source: arstechnica.com Internet Explorer for Xbox (2013)

Source: xbox.com Internet Explorer for Xbox (2013)

Source: xbox.com

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