Microsoft's web browser Internet Explorer was launched 15 years ago.
While it has had its ups and downs over the years -- version 6 was
plagued by countless security issues, which made it one of the most
hated browsers around -- it's still the most popular browser in the
world, with the last couple of versions improving dramatically on their
troubled predecessor.
The first version of the browser, Internet Explorer 1, debuted on August 16, 1995. It was based on Mosaic, a web browser Microsoft had licensed from a company called Spyglass Inc. Starting with version 3.0, Microsoft started bundling Internet Explorer with Windows, increasing its market share dramatically and ultimately squeezing once dominant browser Netscape Navigator out of the market completely.
Internet Explorer's market dominance started to wane with the rise of popularity of Firefox, a free, open source browser which was launched in 2004, largely as an answer to the problematic IE6. After a couple of years of (somewhat inexplicable) negligence, Microsoft started working hard on improving Internet Explorer again, with version 7 launched as a big improvement on IE6 when it comes to security and stability.
Source: Stan Schroeder, Mashable
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