14 DAY TRIAL // Many tests have been made by great names on the Internet in order to find out which is the best browser available. Until some time ago, there was absolutely no battle to be fought as the leader and the biggest chunk of the market belonged to Internet Explorer. This was mainly the direct effect of including it in Windows OS pack. I remember the time when everyone around me was using IE.
The history of Internet Explorer starts in 1995, when Spyglass licenses the code for a web browser called Mosaic to Microsoft. Spyglass is not the original developer of Mosaic as the code was licensed to it too by NCSA (National Center for Super Computing Applications). They had begun the development of the first GUI-ed web browser some years earlier, back in 1987.
Soon after Microsoft got the license for Mosaic, a new version of the application, now called Internet Explorer was released to the public. Back then, IE 1 did not have much to offer and the standard features we benefit from nowadays (like dynamic content) were unimaginable then. However, the minimum web surfing needs were covered (navigate back and forth or go to home page). An objective opinion would consider that the Internet was at its beginning even then and there weren't too many places to go to.
The future releases went on the market quite rapidly and the beta version of IE2 was out in October 1995 and the final was handed out to the users in November, the same year. The following years all included a new release of IE from Microsoft, thus in 1996, version 3 was released (from this version on, Microsoft would include IE in their operating systems), 1997 came with the fourth release, 1998 brought version 5. The intermezzo between editions 5 and 6 was included in Windows Millennium and focused on improved Web developer features, rendering CSS support.
By now, IE gathered quite a market share and hackers were all paying attention to its ascension among computer users. Most improvements of the web browser were behind the scenes, like introducing XML, XSL or CSS support. Beginning with version 6 of Internet Explorer, Microsoft started to concentrate on security and privacy. Among the new additions, there was pop-up blocker, a sign that the Internet was climbing towards new heights of progress.
With great powers come great responsibilities
As IE's market share kept amassing, hackers began directing their attacks towards MSIE. More and more vulnerabilities were uncovered and exploited by users with minimum skills in programming all over the world. Therefore, Microsoft started to release security updates for the worldwide used web browser code licensed from Spyglass.
The Internet Explorer market share grew exponentially and for a couple of years it was the dominant browser on the market. And when I say dominant I am not talking about sharing the market with another similar application. The market share was above 80% until November 2006. And that despite the numerous flaws included in the code and the multiple attacks by its means.
The reason for this effect? The answer is the inclusion of the browser in the operating system. This way, a great deal of Windows users did not bother to improve the security of the computer by changing the web browser and continued to employ Internet Explorer in the daily web surfing.
Security was the most burning issue in Internet Explorer, so the guys started strengthening the immune system of the browser. So Microsoft started releasing security updates for both the operating system and Internet Explorer. That was in vain, as the original code could not be immunized by small changes released to the users through the updates.
Six for the fix
October 18th 2006 was the release day of a new IE, improved from all points of view. That was the date of launching IE7 to Windows XP public as Vista had yet a few months to come into final.
What happened to IE during 2001 and 2006? I for one have not seen too many changes, as malicious code was in many cases automatically downloaded via Microsoft's browser. Many computer users were living dangerously by employing Internet Explorer and more than half of them had absolutely no idea of the peril downloading under the cover of MSIE.
2006 was the year a new much awaited version of Internet Explorer was released. I thought I would never reach the day to see tabbed browsing in IE, or news feeds or a better security, or PNG transparency etc. And yet, all these were made available in IE7, Microsoft's latest achievement in web browsing tools.
Starting July 2005, Internet Explorer's market share begins to drop steadily, with minor rises in the graphic. People realized the risks their computers were exposed to when using Microsoft's web browser, but had also experienced the functionality of the features implemented in other web surfing products available. But what were the alternatives? You can try here or here. Or, you can read the results of some tests run on all three of them here.