History of Internet Explorer

The following is a brief history of Internet Explorer.

=Early beginnings: Spyglass Mosaic=

Internet Explorer is derived from Spyglass Mosaic (web browser). Originally, Spyglass licensed the technology and trademarks from National Center for Supercomputing Applications for producing their own web browser but never used any of the NCSA Mosaic source code . In 1995 Spyglass Mosaic was licensed by Microsoft, in an arrangement under which Spyglass would receive a quarterly fee plus a percentage of Microsoft s revenues for the software.

The browser was then modified and renamed as Internet Explorer. Microsoft originally released Internet Explorer 1.0 in August 1995 with the Internet Jumpstart Kit in Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95. Version 1.5 was released later for Windows NT that supported basic table rendering. Version 2.0 was released for both Windows 95 and Windows NT in November 1995, featuring support for Secure Sockets Layer, HTTP cookie, VRML, and Internet newsgroups. Version 2.0 was also released for the Macintosh and Windows 3.1 in April 1996.

Internet Explorer 3.0 was released free of charge in August 1996 by bundling it with Windows 95 OSR2. Microsoft thus made no direct revenues on IE and was liable to pay Spyglass only the minimum quarterly fee. In 1997, Spyglass threatened Microsoft with a contractual audit, in response to which Microsoft settled for US $8 million . Version 3 included Internet Mail and News 1.0 and the Windows Address Book. It also brought the browser much closer to the bar that had been set by Netscape, including the support of Netscape s Plugins technology (NPAPI), ActiveX, and a reverse-engineered version of JavaScript named JScript. Later, Microsoft NetMeeting and Windows Media Player were integrated into the product and thus helper applications became not as necessary as they once were. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) were also introduced with version 3 of Internet Explorer.

=Second stage: browser wars=

Version 4, released in October 1997, was shipped with Windows 98 and was modified to integrate more closely with Microsoft Windows. It included an option to enable Active Desktop which displayed World Wide Web content on the desktop itself and was updated automatically as the content changed. The user could select other pages for use as Active Desktops as well. Active Channel technology was also introduced to automatically obtain information updates from websites. The technology was based on an XML standard known as Channel Definition Format (CDF), which predated the currently used web syndication formats like RSS (file format). This version was designed to work on Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT, and could be downloaded from the Internet, free of charge. It supported Dynamic HTML (DHTML). Outlook Express 4.0 also came integrated into the browser and replaced the aging Microsoft Internet Mail & News product that was released with previous versions.

In September 1998, Microsoft released version 5 of Internet Explorer. Bi-directional text, Ruby character and direct XML/Extensible Stylesheet Language support were included in this release, along with enhanced support for CSS Level 1 and 2. The actual release of Internet Explorer 5 happened in three stages. Firstly, a Developer Preview was released in June 1998 (5.0B1), and then a Public Preview was released in November 1998 (5.0B2). Then in March 1999 the final release was released (5.0). In September it was released with Windows 98. Version 5.0 was the last one to be released for Windows 3.1x or Windows NT 3.x. Internet Explorer 5.5 was later released for Windows Me in July 2000, and included many bug fixes and security patches.

Version 6 was released with Windows XP in October 25, 2001. It mainly focused on privacy and security features, as they had become customer priorities. Microsoft implemented tools that support P3P, a technology under development by the World Wide Web Consortium.

==United States v. Microsoft==

In a legal case brought by the US Department of Justice and twenty U.S. states, Microsoft was accused of breaking an earlier consent decree, by product bundling Internet Explorer with its operating system software. The department took issue with Microsoft s contract with original equipment manufacturer computer manufacturers that bound the manufacturers to include Internet Explorer with the copies of Microsoft Windows they installed on systems they shipped. Allegedly, it would not allow the manufacturer to put an icon for any other web browser on the default desktop in place of Internet Explorer. Microsoft maintained that integration of its web browser into its operating system was in the interests of consumers.

Microsoft asserted in court that IE was integrated with Windows 98, and that Windows 98 could not be made to operate without it. Australian computer scientist Shane Brooks later demonstrated that Windows 98 could in fact run with IE files removed . Brooks went on to develop software designed to customize Windows by removing undesired components , which now known as [http://www.litepc.com LitePC]. Microsoft has claimed that the software did not remove all components of Internet Explorer, leaving many dynamic link library files behind.

On April 3, 2000, Judge Jackson issued his findings of fact that Microsoft had abused its monopoly position by attempting to dissuade Netscape Communications Corporation from developing Netscape Navigator as a platform , that it withheld crucial technical information , and attempted to reduce Navigator s usage share by giving Internet Explorer away and rewarding firms that helped build its usage share and excluding Navigator from important distribution channels .

Jackson also released a remedy that suggested Microsoft should be broken up into two companies. This remedy was overturned on appeal, amidst charges that Jackson had revealed a bias against Microsoft in communication with reporters. The findings of fact that Microsoft had broken the law, however, were upheld. Seven months later, the Department of Justice agreed on a settlement agreement with Microsoft. As of 2004, although nineteen states have agreed to the settlement, Massachusetts is still holding out.

=Third stage: major development ceased=

In a May 7, 2003 Microsoft online chat, Brian Countryman, Internet Explorer Program Manager, declared that on Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer will cease to be distributed separately from the operating system (IE 6 being the last standalone version) ; it will, however, be continued as a part of the evolution of the operating system, with IE updates coming bundled in OS upgrades. Thus, IE and Windows will be kept more in sync: it will be less likely that people will use a relatively old version of IE on a newer version of Windows, and newer versions of IE will not be usable without an OS upgrade.

This also partially accounts for the slow development of Internet Explorer and Windows Vista: the development team that was working on Windows Longhorn and the next version of Internet Explorer needed to pause its work during the development of Service Pack 2, to add what were seen as missing features like popup blocking and security patches to Windows XP. Critics argue that Microsoft should make the browser technologies specific to each revision of the operating system and forego backward compatibility .

=Present: what s next=

On February 15, 2005, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced the new browser version at the RSA Conference 2005 in San Francisco . The new BETA version is expected to be released in the summer of 2005 (3. August), a change in direction from when it said it would release the next version of Internet Explorer only with the next version of Windows, Windows Vista. It will be available to Windows XP SP2 and later only, including Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 SP1 . The new version of Internet Explorer is intended to defend users from Phishing as well as deceptive or malicious software. Web standard evangelists see such announcement as a result of the rising usage share of other web browsers, noticeably Mozilla Firefox.

Based on [http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/04/22/410963.aspx a post from the IEBlog], version 7 will finally support subscribers for download (not for public).

Beta 2 will feature several major CSS bug fixes, and improved support of HTML and CSS, e.g. HTML 4.01 abbr element, CSS 2.1 selectors, :hover on any element, etc.

=Release history=

Release history of Internet Explorer. Service packs are not included unless significant.

=Footnotes=

# [http://biztech.ericsink.com/Browser_Wars.html Memoirs From the Browser Wars], May 12, 2005. # [http://www.windowsitpro.com/Articles/Index.cfmArticleID=16683&DisplayTab=Article Microsoft and Spyglass kiss and make up], May 12, 2005. # [http://www.zone-h.org/en/news/read/id=2789/ Microsoft to abandon standalone IE], May 12, 2005. # [http://longhornblogs.com/adacosta/archive/2005/01/27/12168.aspx Is Longhorn holding back Innovation], May 12, 2005. # [http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9903/09/removeie.idg/ How to remove Internet Explorer from Windows 98], May 12, 2005. # [http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f3800/msjudgex.htm U.S. v. Microsoft: Court s Findings of Fact], May 12, 2005. # [http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/02/28/382054.aspx IE7 Platforms and Outlook Express], May 12, 2005. # [http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/feb05/02-15RSA05KeynotePR.asp Gates Highlights Progress on Security, Outlines Next Steps for Continued Innovation], May 12, 2005.

=References=

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=See also=

*Internet Explorer