49 Versions of Internet Explorer from IE 1.0 to IE 7.0

Internet Explorer, Microsoft's proprietary has been an indispensable accessory for the Windows operating system since 1995, when Microsoft made available Windows 95. Back in 1995 the Redmond company was offering Internet Explorer 1.0 version 4.40.308. Over 12 years later, Internet Explorer 7 build 7.00.6000.16386 shipped as a component of Windows Vista. In total, between 1995 and 2007, Microsoft released no less than 49 official versions of Internet Explorer. Just access the image included toward the bottom of this article in order to make an idea of the evolution of Internet Explorer.

Microsoft moved to Internet Explorer 3.0 v4.70.1158 in Windows 95 OSR2, then to Internet Explorer 4.01 v4.72.3110.8 in Windows 98 and to Internet Explorer 5 v5.00.2614.3500 in Windows 98 Second Edition. IE5 survived in Windows 2000 and only with Windows Me did the browser grow to version 5.50.4134.0100. Internet Explorer 6 build 6.00.2800.1106 dropped with Widows XP and Internet Explorer 7 was made available for Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista.

Now, according to statistics made public by Net Applications, Internet Explorer accounts for a market share of no less than 77.87%, at the end of October 2007. Microsoft has been increasingly losing its grasp of the browser market to Mozilla, as the open source Firefox has grown to 14.85%. Internet Explorer 6 is still the dominant presence with a share of 43.09%, followed by IE7 with 34.32% and Firefox 2.0 - 13.75%.

Internet Explorer 8, the next in line for the evolution of IE is currently planned for delivery, in accordance with Microsoft's own estimates, at the end of 2008, early 2009. The Redmond company promised that IE8 will follow IE7 within a two year timetable. Otherwise, while Mozilla is on the verge of dropping the first beta for Firefox 3.0 (Gran Paradiso), Microsoft is still muting all details related to IE8.