Internet Explorer version history explained

Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or MSIE) is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995.

The first version of Internet Explorer, (at that time named Microsoft Internet Explorer, later referred to as Internet Explorer 1) made its debut on August 24, 1995.[1] It was a reworked version of Spyglass Mosaic, which Microsoft licensed from Spyglass Inc., like many other companies initiating browser development. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year. Later versions were available as free downloads, or in service packs, and included in the OEM service releases of Windows 95 and later versions of Windows.

Originally Microsoft Internet Explorer only ran on Windows using Intel 80386 (IA-32) processor. Current versions also run on x64, 32-bit ARMv7, PowerPC and IA-64. Versions on Windows have supported MIPS, Alpha AXP and 16-bit and 32-bit x86 but currently support only 32-bit or 64-bit. A version exists for Xbox 360 called Internet Explorer for Xbox using PowerPC and an embedded OEM version called Pocket Internet Explorer, later rebranded Internet Explorer Mobile, which is currently based on Internet Explorer 9 and made for Windows Phone using ARMv7, Windows CE, and previously, based on Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Mobile. It remains in development alongside the desktop versions.

Internet Explorer has supported other operating systems with Internet Explorer for Mac (using Motorola 68020+, PowerPC) and Internet Explorer for UNIX (Solaris using SPARC and HP-UX using PA-RISC), which have been discontinued.

Since its first release, Microsoft has added features and technologies such as basic table display (in version 1.5); XMLHttpRequest (in version 5), which adds creation of dynamic web pages; and Internationalized Domain Names (in version 7), which allow Web sites to have native-language addresses with non-Latin characters. The browser has also received scrutiny throughout its development for use of third-party technology (such as the source code of Spyglass Mosaic, used without royalty in early versions) and security and privacy vulnerabilities, and both the United States and the European Union have alleged that integration of Internet Explorer with Windows has been to the detriment of other browsers.

The latest stable release has an interface allowing for use as both a desktop application, and as a Windows 8 application.

OS compatibility

See also: Internet Explorer Mobile. IE versions, over time, have had widely varying OS compatibility, ranging from being available for many platforms and several versions of Windows to only a few versions of Windows. Many versions of IE had some support for an older OS but stopped getting updates. The increased growth of the Internet in the 1990s and 2000s means that current browsers with small market shares have more total users than the entire market early on. For example, 90% market share in 1997 would be roughly 60 million[2] users, but by the start of 2007 90% market share would equate to over 900 million users.[2] The result is that later versions of IE6 had many more users in total than all the early versions put together.

The release of IE7 at the end of 2006 resulted in a collapse of IE6 market share; by February 2007, market version share statistics showed IE6 at about 50% and IE7 at 29%.[3] Regardless of the actual market share, the most compatible version (across operating systems) of IE was 5.x, which had Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X, Unix, and most Windows versions available and supported for a short period in the late 1990s (although 4.x had a more unified codebase across versions). By 2007, IE had much narrower OS support, with the latest versions supporting only Windows XP Service Pack 2 and above. Internet Explorer 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, and 7.0 (Experimental) have also been unofficially ported to the Linux operating system from the project IEs4Linux.

Operating system! Latest stable IE version! Support date! Exceptions
Microsoft Windows7 or later, Server 2008 R2 or later2009–Continued to receive security patches.
IE11 was later released for Windows Embedded 8 Standard and Server 2012. Windows Server 2012 will continue to receive security patches until 2026 with ESU
82012
Vista and Server 20082006–2011Windows Server 2008 continued to receive security patches until 2023 with ESU (and continued until 2024 with ESU for Azure customers)
XP and Server 20032001–2009Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 continued to receive security patches till 2019
NT 4.0, 98, 2000 and ME1996–2001
951995–2000
3.1x and NT 3.511995–1999
NT 3.51995–1996
NT 3.11995
macOS10.4–10.6 (IA-32, x64)5.2.3 (with Rosetta)2005
10.1–10.5 (PPC)5.2.32001–2003
Classic Mac OS7.5.5–9.2.2 (PPC)5.1.7 (included)1995–2003
7.1–8.1 (68k)4.0.1 (included)1995–1998
7.0.1 (68k)2.11995
OS/22.1–4.523.0
HP-UX5.01 SP1
Solaris5.01 SP11998-2001

Versions

Microsoft Internet Explorer 1.x

thumb|Internet Explorer 1.0 screen shotMicrosoft Internet Explorer 1.0 made its debut on August 24, 1995. It was a reworked version of Spyglass Mosaic which Microsoft had licensed, like many other companies initiating browser development, from Spyglass Inc.[4] It came with the purchase of Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 and with at least some OEM releases of Windows 95 without Plus!.[5] It was installed as part of the Internet Jumpstart Kit in Plus! for Windows 95.[6] The Internet Explorer team began with about six people in early development.[7] [8] Microsoft Internet Explorer 1.5 was released several months later for Windows NT and added support for basic HTML table rendering. By including it free of charge on their operating system, they did not have to pay royalties to Spyglass Inc, resulting in a lawsuit and a US$8 million settlement on January 22, 1997.[4] [9]

Although not included, this software can also be installed on the original release of Windows 95.

Internet Explorer 1.x is no longer supported, or available for download from Microsoft. However, archived versions of the software can be found on various websites. Support for Internet Explorer 1.0 ended on December 31, 2001, the same day as older Windows Versions.

Features

Internet Explorer came with an install routine replacing a manual installation required by many of the existing web browsers.[10]

Microsoft Internet Explorer 2

See main article: Internet Explorer 2. Microsoft Internet Explorer 2 was released for Windows 95, Windows NT 3.51, and NT 4.0 on November 27, 1995 (following a 2.0 beta in October). It featured support for JavaScript, SSL, cookies, frames, VRML, RSA, and Internet newsgroups. Version 2 was also the first release for Windows 3.1 and Macintosh System 7.0.1 (PPC or 68k), although the Mac version was not released until January 1996 for PPC, and April for 68k.[11] Version 2.1 for the Mac came out in August 1996, although by this time, Windows was getting 3.0. Version 2 was included in Windows 95 OSR 1 and Microsoft's Internet Starter Kit for Windows 95 in early 1996.[12] It launched with twelve languages, including English, but by April 1996, this was expanded to 24, 20, and 9 for Win 95, Win 3.1, and Mac, respectively.[12] The 2.0i version supported double-byte character-set.[12]

Microsoft Internet Explorer 3

See main article: Internet Explorer 3.

Market share history snapshot
for February 2005[13]
IE4: 0.07%
IE5: 6.17%
IE6: 82.79%
Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 was released on August 13, 1996 and went on to be much more popular than its predecessors. It was the first major browser with CSS support, although this support was only partial. It also introduced support for ActiveX controls, Java applets, inline multimedia, and the PICS system for content metadata. Version 3 also came bundled with Internet Mail and News, NetMeeting, and an early version of the Windows Address Book, and was itself included with Windows 95 OSR 2. Version 3 proved to be the first more popular version of Internet Explorer, bringing with it increased scrutiny. In the months following its release, a number of security and privacy vulnerabilities were found by researchers and hackers. This version of Internet Explorer was the first to have the 'blue e' logo. The Internet Explorer team consisted of roughly 100 people during the development of three months.[14] The first major IE security hole, the Princeton Word Macro Virus Loophole, was discovered on August 22, 1996 in IE3.[15]

Backwards compatibility was handled by allowing users who upgraded to IE3 to still use the previous version, because the installation renamed the old version (incorporating the old version number) and stored it in the same directory.[16]

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4

See main article: Internet Explorer 4.

Market share history snapshot
for October 2008[17]
IE4: 0.01%
IE5: 0.20%
IE6: 37.01%
IE7: 35.81%
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4, released on September 22, 1997, deepened the level of integration between the web browser and the underlying operating system. Installing version 4 on Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 and choosing Windows Desktop Update would result in the traditional Windows Explorer being replaced by a version more akin to a web browser interface, as well as the Windows desktop itself being web-enabled via Active Desktop. The integration with Windows, however, was subject to numerous packaging criticisms (see United States v. Microsoft). This option was no longer available with the installers for later versions of Internet Explorer, but was not removed from the system if already installed. It introduced support for Group Policy, allowing companies to configure and lock down many aspects of the browser's configuration as well as support for offline browsing.[18] Internet Mail and News was replaced with Outlook Express, and Microsoft Chat and an improved NetMeeting were also included. This version was also included with Windows 98. New features that allowed users to save and retrieve posts in comment forms were added, but they are not used today. Internet Explorer 4.5 offered new features such as easier 128-bit encryption. It also offered a dramatic stability improvement over prior versions, particularly the 68k version, which was especially prone to freezing.[19] [20] [21]

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5

See main article: Internet Explorer 5.0.

See main article: Internet Explorer 5.5. Microsoft Internet Explorer 5, launched on March 18, 1999, and subsequently included with Windows 98 Second Edition and bundled with Office 2000, was another significant release that supported bi-directional text, ruby characters, XML, XSLT, and the ability to save web pages in MHTML format. IE5 was bundled with Outlook Express 5. Also, with the release of Internet Explorer 5.0, Microsoft released the first version of XMLHttpRequest, giving birth to Ajax (even though the term "Ajax" was not coined until years later). It was the last with a 16-bit version. Internet Explorer 5.01, a bug fix version included in Windows 2000, was released in December 1999 and it is the last version of Internet Explorer to run on Windows 3.1x and Windows NT 3.51. Internet Explorer 5.5 followed in June 2000, improving its print preview capabilities, CSS and HTML standards support, and developer APIs; this version was bundled with Windows ME. However, version 5 was the last version for Mac and UNIX. Version 5.5 was the last to have Compatibility Mode, which allowed Internet Explorer 4[22] to be run side by side with the 5.x series.[6] [23] The IE team consisted of over 1,000 people by 1999, with funding on the order of per year.[8] [14] Version 5.5 is also the last version of Internet Explorer to run on Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 SP3–SP6.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6

See main article: Internet Explorer 6. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 was released on August 24, 2001, a few months before Windows XP. This version included DHTML enhancements, content restricted inline frames, and partial support of CSS level 1, DOM level 1, and SMIL 2.0.[24] The MSXML engine was also updated to version 3.0. Other new features included a new version of the Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK), Media bar, Windows Messenger integration, fault collection, automatic image resizing, P3P, and a new look-and-feel that was in line with the Luna visual style of Windows XP, when used in Windows XP. Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1, which offered several security enhancements, coincided with the Windows XP SP1 patch release and it is the last version of Internet Explorer to support Windows NT 4.0 SP6a, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP RTM–SP1 and Windows Server 2003 RTM. In 2002, the Gopher protocol was disabled, and support for it was dropped in Internet Explorer 7.[25] Internet Explorer 6.0 SV1[26] came out on August 6, 2004 for Windows XP SP2 and offered various security enhancements and new colour buttons on the user interface. Internet Explorer 6 updated the original 'blue e' logo to a lighter blue and more 3D look.[6] Microsoft now considers IE6 to be an obsolete product and recommends that users upgrade to Internet Explorer 8. Some corporate IT users have not upgraded despite this, in part because some still use Windows 2000, which will not run Internet Explorer 7 or above.[27] Microsoft has launched a website, https://web.archive.org/web/20110304205645/http://ie6countdown.com/, with the goal of getting Internet Explorer 6 usage to drop below 1 percent worldwide. Its usage is 6% globally as of October 2012, and now about 6.3% since June 2013, and depending on the country, the usage differs heavily: while the usage in Norway is 0.1%, it is 21.3% in the People's Republic of China.[28] On January 3, 2012, Microsoft announced that usage of IE6 in the United States had dropped below 1%.[29] [30]

Windows Internet Explorer 7

See main article: Internet Explorer 7. Windows Internet Explorer 7 was released on October 18, 2006. It includes bug fixes, enhancements to its support for web standards, tabbed browsing with tab preview and management, a multiple-engine search box, a web feeds reader, Internationalized Domain Name support (IDN), Extended Validation Certificate support, and an anti-phishing filter. With IE7, Internet Explorer has been decoupled from the Windows Shell—unlike previous versions, the Internet Explorer ActiveX control is not hosted in the Windows Explorer process, but rather runs in a separate Internet Explorer process. It is included with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, and is available for Windows XP Service Pack 2 and later, and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and later. Internet Explorer 7 is the last version of Internet Explorer to support Windows XP x64 Edition RTM and Windows Server 2003 SP1. The original release of Internet Explorer 7 required the computer to pass a Windows Genuine Advantage validation check prior to installing, but on October 5, 2007, Microsoft removed this requirement. As some statistics show, by mid-2008, Internet Explorer 7 market share exceeded that of Internet Explorer 6 in a number of regions.[31] [32]

Windows Internet Explorer 8

See main article: Internet Explorer 8. Windows Internet Explorer 8 was released on March 19, 2009. It is the first version of IE to pass the Acid2 test, and the last of the major browsers to do so (in the later Acid3 Test, it only scores 24/100.). According to Microsoft, security, ease of use, and improvements in RSS, CSS, and Ajax support were its priorities for IE8.[33] [34]

Internet Explorer 8 is the last version of Internet Explorer to support Windows XP SP2–SP3, Windows XP x64 Edition SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows Vista RTM–SP1 and Windows Server 2008 RTM.[35] [36] Support for Internet Explorer 8 is bound to the lifecycle of the Windows version it is installed on as it is considered an OS component, thus it is unsupported on Windows XP due to the end of extended support for the latter in April 2014. Effective January 12, 2016, Internet Explorer 8 is no longer supported on any client or server version of Windows, due to new policies specifying that only the newest version of IE available for a supported version of Windows will be supported.[37] [38] However several Windows Embedded versions will remain supported until their respective EOL, unless otherwise specified.[39]

Windows Internet Explorer 9

See main article: Internet Explorer 9. Windows Internet Explorer 9 was released on March 14, 2011.[40] Development for Internet Explorer 9 began shortly after the release of Internet Explorer 8.[41] Microsoft first announced Internet Explorer 9 at PDC 2009, and spoke mainly about how it takes advantage of hardware acceleration in DirectX to improve the performance of web applications and quality of web typography. At MIX 10, Microsoft showed and publicly released the first Platform Preview for Internet Explorer 9, a frame for IE9's engine not containing any UI of the browser.[42] Leading up to the release of the final browser, Microsoft released updated platform previews, each featuring improved JavaScript compiling (32-bit version), improved scores on the Acid3 test, as well as additional HTML5 standards support, approximately every six weeks. Ultimately, eight platform previews were released. The first public beta was released at a special event in San Francisco, which was themed around "the beauty of the web". The release candidate was released on February 10, 2011, and featured improved performance, refinements to the UI, and further standards support. The final version was released during the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference in Austin, Texas, on March 14, 2011.

Internet Explorer 9 is the last version of Internet Explorer to support Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 SP2, Windows 7 RTM, Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM and Windows Phone 7.5.[43] It supports several CSS 3 properties (including border-radius, box-shadow, etc.), and embedded ICC v2 or v4 colour profiles support via Windows Color System. The 32-bit version has faster JavaScript performance, this being due to a new JavaScript engine called "Chakra".[44] It also features hardware accelerated graphics rendering using Direct2D, hardware-accelerated text rendering using DirectWrite, hardware-accelerated video rendering using Media Foundation, imaging support provided by Windows Imaging Component, and high fidelity printing powered by the XPS print pipeline.[45] IE9 also supports the HTML video and audio tags and the Web Open Font Format.[46] Internet Explorer 9 initially scored 95/100 on the Acid3 test, but has scored 100/100 since the test was updated in September 2011.[47]

Internet Explorer was to be omitted from Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 in Europe, but Microsoft ultimately included it, with a browser option screen allowing users to select any of several web browsers (including Internet Explorer).[48] [49] [50] [51] [52]

Internet Explorer is now available on Xbox 360 with Kinect support, as of October 2012.[53]

Internet Explorer 10

See main article: Internet Explorer 10. Internet Explorer 10 became generally available on October 26, 2012, alongside Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, but is by now supported on Windows Server 2012, while Windows Server 2012 R2 only supports Internet Explorer 11. It became available for Windows 7 SP1 on February 26, 2013.[54] Microsoft announced Internet Explorer 10 in April 2011, at MIX 11 in Las Vegas, releasing the first Platform Preview at the same time. At the show, it was said that Internet Explorer 10 was about three weeks in development.[55] This release further improves upon standards support, including HTML5 Drag & Drop and CSS3 gradients.[56] Internet Explorer 10 Release Preview was also released on the Windows 8 Release Preview platform.

Internet Explorer 11

See main article: Internet Explorer 11. Internet Explorer 11 is featured in a Windows 8.1 update which was released on October 17, 2013. It includes an incomplete mechanism for syncing tabs. It features a major update to its developer tools,[57] [58] enhanced scaling for high DPI screens,[59] HTML5 prerender and prefetch,[60] hardware-accelerated JPEG decoding,[61] closed captioning, HTML5 full screen,[62] and is the first Internet Explorer to support WebGL[63] [64] [65] and Google's protocol SPDY (starting at v3).[66] This version of IE has features dedicated to Windows 8.1, including cryptography (WebCrypto), adaptive bitrate streaming (Media Source Extensions)[67] and Encrypted Media Extensions.

Internet Explorer 11 was made available for Windows 7 users to download on November 7, 2013, with Automatic Updates in the following weeks.[68]

Internet Explorer 11's user agent string now identifies the agent as "Trident" (the underlying browser engine) instead of "MSIE". It also announces compatibility with Gecko (the browser engine of Firefox).

Microsoft claimed that Internet Explorer 11, running the WebKit SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark, was the fastest browser as of October 15, 2013.[69]

Since January 12, 2016, only the most recent version of Internet Explorer offered for installation on any given Windows operating system is supported with security updates, lasting until the end of the support lifecycle for that Windows operating system. On Windows 7 and 8.1, only Internet Explorer 11 received security updates until the end of those Windows versions' support lifecycles.[70] Support for Internet Explorer 11 is bound to the lifecycle of the Windows version it is installed on as it is considered an OS component, thus it is unsupported on Windows 7 due to the end of extended support on January 14, 2020. Internet Explorer 11 was made available for Windows Server 2012 and Windows Embedded 8 Standard, the only still supported edition of Windows 8 in April 2019. It is the only supported version of Internet Explorer on these operating systems since January 31, 2020.[71] [72]

Internet Explorer 11 follows the OS component lifecycle,[73] which means it remains supported with technical and security fixes while operating systems including it as a component are shipped. This means that there is no date for end of support for Internet Explorer 11.[74] On August 17, 2020, Microsoft published a timeline indicating that the Microsoft Teams product would stop supporting Internet Explorer 11 on November 30, 2020, and Microsoft 365 products ended support for Internet Explorer 11 on August 17, 2021.[75] In May 2021, Microsoft announced that support for Internet Explorer 11 on editions of Windows 10 that are not in the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) would end on June 15, 2022.[76] Internet Explorer 11 was thought to not be on Windows 11, Windows Server Insider Build 22463 and Windows Server Insider Build 25110 as a separate application - however, a few people managed to access it, through the question mark in the Internet Options window. However, while the browser itself is no longer supported, it is supported as IE mode in Edge, including on Windows 11, Windows Server Insider Build 22463 and Windows Server Insider Build 25110.[77] Microsoft has said that it will maintain support for this feature until 2029 at the earliest, and that it will provide one year's notice before its discontinuation.[78] IE mode uses the Trident MSHTML engine.[79]

Release history for desktop Windows OS version

See main article: History of Internet Explorer.

ColorMeaning
PinkOld test release; no longer maintained
RedOld release; no longer maintained
Violet, PurpleOld release; maintenance limited to WS08 paid security updates
GreenCurrent (final) release
Major versionMinor versionRelease dateSignificant changesShipped with
Version 11.0August 24, 1995Initial release.Plus! for Windows 95
1.5January 1996Intermediate release to bridge the gap between IE 1 and 2.
Version 22.0 BetaOctober 1995Support of HTML tables and other elements.
2.0November 22, 1995SSL, cookies, VRML, and Internet newsgroups.Windows 95 OSR1
Windows NT 4.0
Internet Starter Kit
2.01August 1996Bug fix release. Last version for Windows NT 3.1.
Version 33.0 Alpha 1March 1996Improved support of HTML tables, frames, and other elements.
3.0 Alpha 2May 29, 1996Support of VBScript and JScript.
3.0 Beta 2July 17, 1996Support of CSS and Java.
3.0August 13, 1996Final release.Windows 95 OSR2
3.01October 30, 1996Bug fix release.
3.02March 25, 1997Bug fix release.
3.03August 1997Bug fix release.
3.03 SP1August 1998Year 2000 compliance updates. Last version for Windows NT 3.5.
Version 44.0 Beta 1April 1997Improved support of CSS and Microsoft DOM.
4.0 Beta 2July 1997Improved support of HTML and CSS.
4.0September 22, 1997Improved support of HTML and CSS.Windows 95 OSR 2.5
4.01November 18, 1997Bug fix release.Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition
4.01 SP1May 15, 1998Vulnerability patch.Windows 98
4.01 SP2March 16, 1999Updates, included in IE 4.01 SP2.
Version 55.0 Beta 1June 2, 1998Support of more CSS2 features.
5.0 Beta 2November 15, 1998Support of bi-directional text, ruby character, XML/XSLT and more CSS properties.
5.0March 18, 1999Final release.Windows 98 SE
5.01November 8, 1999Bug fix release.Windows 2000
5.01 SP1August 15, 2000Vulnerability patch.Windows 2000 SP1
5.01 SP2May 16, 2001Vulnerability patch. Last version for Windows 3.1x and Windows NT 3.51.Windows 2000 SP2
5.01 SP3August 29, 2002Updates, included in SP3.Windows 2000 SP3
5.01 SP4June 26, 2003Latest updates included with 2000 SP4.Windows 2000 SP4
5.5 Beta 1December 25, 1999Support of more CSS properties. Minor changes to support of frames.Windows Neptune
5.5June 19, 2000Final release.Windows ME
5.5 SP1October 20, 2000Vulnerability patch.
5.5 SP2July 23, 2001Vulnerability patch. Last version for Windows 95.
5.6August 18, 2000Released for Windows Whistler build 2257.Windows Whistler
Version 66.0 Beta 1March 22, 2001More CSS changes and bug fixes to be more W3C-compliant. Add new feature Smart tag
6.0August 24, 2001Final release. Remove the Smart tag again.Windows XP
6.0 SP1September 9, 2002Vulnerability patch. Last version for Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows ME.Windows XP SP1
Windows Server 2003
6.05October 1, 2003Released for Windows Longhorn build 4051-4094.Windows Longhorn
6.0 SP2August 25, 2004Vulnerability patch. Popup/ActiveX blocker. Add-on manager.Windows XP SP2
Windows Server 2003 SP1
6.0 SP3April 21, 2008Latest updates included with XP SP3 and Server 2003 SP2.Windows XP SP3
Windows Server 2003 SP2
Version 77.0 Beta 1July 27, 2005Support of PNG alpha channel. CSS bug fixes. Tabbed browsing. Support for EV SSL certificate. Phishing filter.Windows Vista Beta 1
7.0 Beta 2 PreviewJanuary 31, 2006More CSS fixes. Web feeds platform integration. New GUI. Quick Tabs.
7.0 Beta 2April 24, 2006Feature complete. More CSS fixes. Application compatibility fixes.
7.0 Beta 3June 29, 2006Fixes rendering issues for CSS.
7.0 RC 1August 24, 2006Improvements in performance, stability, security, application compatibility and final CSS adjustments.
7.0October 18, 2006Final release.Windows Vista
7.0 SP1February 4, 2008Vulnerability patch.Windows Vista SP1
Windows Server 2008
7.0 SP2May 26, 2009Latest updates included with Vista SP2 and Server 2008 SP2.Windows Vista SP2
Windows Server 2008 SP2
Version 88.0 Beta 1March 5, 2008CSS 2.1, Contextual Services. Accelerators. Web Slices. Tab isolation and DEP protection enabled by default. Automatic crash recovery. Improved phishing and malware filter (SmartScreen). Uses 6 HTTP server connections for improved website responsiveness.
8.0 Beta 2August 27, 2008CSS 2.1 bug fixes. InPrivate browsing. Smart address bar. Search suggestions. Tab color grouping. Caret browsing.Windows 7 Pre-Beta
8.0 Pre-RC 1December 11, 2008CSS bug fixes. Improved Developer Tools. Changes in Compatibility View. Improved Favorites management and other minor changes to UI. Changes to InPrivate browsing and blocking modes.Windows 7 Beta
8.0 RC1January 26, 2009CSS bug fixes. Minor changes in favorites management and search bar.
8.0March 19, 2009Final release. Last version for Windows XP, Windows XP x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003.[80] Windows 7
Windows Server 2008 R2
8.0 SP1February 9, 2011Latest updates included with Win7 SP1 and Server 2008 R2 SP1.Windows 7 SP1
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
Version 99.0 Platform Preview 1
v1.9.7745.6019		March 16, 2010Support for some CSS3 selectors (including border-radius property), HTML5 and SVG. New JavaScript engine (code name Chakra). Added support for graphics and web rendering hardware acceleration, using Direct2D and DirectWrite.
9.0 Platform Preview 2
v1.9.7766.6000		May 5, 2010Support for more functions in SVG, HTML5, DOM. Added support for all CSS3 selectors. JavaScript performance improvements.
9.0 Platform Preview 3
v1.9.7874.6000		June 23, 2010Support for <nowiki><audio></nowiki>, <nowiki><video></nowiki> and <nowiki><canvas></nowiki> tags. Support for WOFF fonts. JavaScript and graphics performance improvements.
9.0 Platform Preview 4
v1.9.7916.6000		August 4, 2010CSS bug fixes. Support for ECMAScript5 (ES5). JScript engine integrated into the core browser components (architectural change). Performance improvements.
9.0 Beta & 9.0 Platform Preview 5
v1.9.7930.16406		September 15, 2010New UI, Download manager, New Tab page, Search in the address bar, Notification Bar, Add-on Performance Advisor
9.0 Platform Preview 6
v1.9.8006.6000		October 28, 2010CSS 2D transforms and HTML semantic tags.
9.0 Platform Preview 7
v1.9.8023.6000		November 17, 2010Better JavaScript performance.
9.0 Release Candidate & 9.0 Platform Preview 8
1.9.8080.16413		February 10, 2011Performance improvements, Tracking Protection, ActiveX Filtering, paste and navigate, enhancements to user interface, and support for the W3C Geolocation API.
9.0March 14, 2011Improved performance, improved Tracking Protection, and the option to pin multiple targets per page. Last version for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.[81]
Version 1010.0 Platform Preview 1
v2.10.1000.16394		April 12, 2011Support for CSS3 multi-column layout, CSS3 grid layout, CSS3 flexible box layout, CSS3 gradients, and ES5 strict mode.
10.0 Platform Preview 2
v2.10.1008.16421		June 29, 2011Support for Positioned Floats, CSS stylesheet limit lifted, CSSOM Floating Point Value support, Improved hit testing APIs, Media Query Listeners, HTML5: Support for async attribute on script elements, Drag and Drop, File API, Sandbox, Web Workers, and some Web Performance APIs.
10.0 Developer Preview
v10.0.8102.0 - Platform Preview 3		September 13, 2011Support for Windows 8, CSS 3D Transforms, CSS Text shadow, SVG Filter Effects, Spellchecking, Autocorrection, local storage with IndexedDB and the HTML5 Application Cache, Web Sockets, HTML5 History, and InPrivate tabs.Windows 8 Developer Preview
10.0 Developer Preview
v10.0.8103.0 - Platform Preview 4		November 29, 2011Windows 8 Developer Preview
10.0 Consumer Preview
v10.0.8250.0 - Platform Preview 5		February 29, 2012Improved performance and support for more HTML5.[82] Windows 8 Consumer Preview
10.0 Release Preview
v10.0.8400.0 - Platform Preview 6		May 31, 2012Windows 8 Release Preview
10.0October 26, 2012Final release. Only version for Windows 8.Windows 8
Windows Server 2012
Version 1111.0 Preview
11.0.9431.0		June 26, 2013Improved support for HTML5 and CSS3. Support for WebGL and SPDY. New Modern UI-interface and developer tools.Windows 8.1 Preview
11.0 Release Preview
11.0.9431.0		September 18, 2013Performance improvements.
11.0October 17, 2013Final release. Last version for Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012.[83] Windows 8.1
Windows Server 2012 R2
Windows 10
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2019

See also

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The History of Internet Explorer . August 25, 2005 . . News Center . October 1, 2005 . https://web.archive.org/web/20051001113951/http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/community/columns/historyofie.mspx . live .
  2. Web site: History and Growth of the Internet . March 3, 2007.
  3. Web site: Market share for browsers, operating systems and search engines. March 3, 2007.
  4. Web site: MICROSOFT'S $8 MILLION GOODBYE TO SPYGLASS . February 9, 2011 . Peter . Elstrom . January 22, 1997 . . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/19970629174318/http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/january/new0122d.htm . June 29, 1997 .
  5. Web site: Windows 95, original release, without Internet Explorer?. betaarchive.com. February 7, 2015.
  6. Web site: The History of Internet Explorer. Microsoft. Sandi. Hardmeier. August 25, 2005. February 9, 2011.
  7. Web site: Software empire pays high price. CNET Networks. CNET News. April 15, 2003. John. Borland. February 9, 2011.
  8. Web site: Memoirs From the Browser Wars. Eric . Sink . Ericsink.com . Eric Weblog. April 15, 2003. November 2, 2013.
  9. Web site: Microsoft and Spyglass kiss and make up. WindowsITPro. Thurrott. Paul. Paul Thurrott. January 22, 1997. February 9, 2011. https://archive.today/20120919002551/http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/news2/microsoft-and-spyglass-kiss-and-make-up.aspx. September 19, 2012. dead.
  10. Web site: Windows History . February 10, 2011 . Microsoft . June 30, 2003 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20031002010203/http://www.microsoft.com/windows/WinHistoryIE.mspx . October 2, 2003 . mdy-all .
  11. Web site: Computer History . islandnet.com .
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