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Internet Explorer Turns 15

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the and-the-internet-has-never-been-the-same dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Software giant Microsoft's Internet Explorer turned 15 years old on Monday. The company recently said it would launch the Internet Explorer 9 public beta version on September 15, 2010. The software giant launched the first version of the browser, Internet Explorer 1, on August 16, 1995. It was a revised version of Spyglass Mosaic, which Microsoft had licensed from Spyglass Inc."

18 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Nice and legal in ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Careful, it can spread viruses like crazy.

  2. Re:The Future by aradnik · · Score: 4, Funny

    do you remember what it was like being 15? i bet ie's plotting to get opera in bed or something :)

  3. Memories by Drakkenmensch · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I remember being a college student back in 1993 running Mosaic and Pine from our university's Unix architecture. Ah, those were the days!

  4. Spyglass got pwned! by Henriok · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Microsoft licensed Mosaic under the promise of paying Spyglass royalties based on revenue. But then MS released it for free and Spyglass got nothing. This must be one of Microsoft's finest deals.

    --

    - Henrik

    - when the Shadows descend -
    1. Re:Spyglass got pwned! by kevinmenzel · · Score: 3, Informative

      I thought that was only for the Win3.1 and Mac versions? I could be wrong, but I do know that the deals were different between the 95 version and the 3.1 and Mac versions...

    2. Re:Spyglass got pwned! by MojoRilla · · Score: 4, Interesting

      They kissed and made up in the end (at least Spyglass got $8 million), according to this article.

  5. Re:IE turns 15... by bondsbw · · Score: 5, Funny
    History of IE:
    • Cool... we can go to web pages!
    • Eh, I like Netscape better.
    • But wait... we can theme IE!
    • Microsoft sucks! Down with IE!
    • Oooh... so yeah, I hate to say this since I hate Microsoft, but Netscape really sucks... they haven't upgraded it in like 5 years. And it's owned by AOL, the other enemy. Guess I have to go with IE...
    • IE hasn't been upgraded in like 5 years... we need something new.
    • *From heaven* "BEHOLD, FIREFOX!"
    • Microsoft: Oh crap, you mean we have to put out a new version of IE? Do we still have developers around?
    • Apple: Let's take a Safari...
    • Google: Hey, me too!
    • Opera: Ok guys, we'll make it free... we get it.
    • Opera: HELLO!!?!? Anybody there?
    --
    All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
  6. Re:Mid 90's by spiffmastercow · · Score: 3, Funny

    yes but we all not what happened to Netscape. We can only pray IE suffers the safe fate.

    That it gets abandoned, and a team of open source coders picks it up?

  7. It's hard to believe... by MikeRT · · Score: 4, Insightful

    that there was a time when people actually fled in droves to IE the way they are switching to Firefox and Chrome.

    Anyone who wonders why IE 6 became the de facto standard just needs to find a download of Netscape Communicator.

    1. Re:It's hard to believe... by dmgxmichael · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Hehe, yup. Netscape 4 is FAR, FAR worse than IE 4 on its worst day. I still remember it and honestly I was more glad of its demise from the support list than I will be of IE 6's. IE 6 isn't a bad browser in and of itself, it just was allowed to stay around too long as Microsoft rested on their laurels. If IE 7 had come out in 2003 or 2004 no one would be complaining about IE in general or IE 6 in particular.

    2. Re:It's hard to believe... by characterZer0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The problem with IE6 is not that it was bad but that people wrote ActiveX applications for it and those applications are still needed.

      The problem now is that many organizations have clueless IT departments that do not know how to deploy those old applications via Terminal Services and instead insist that desktop machines stick with IE6.

      --
      Go green: turn off your refrigerator.
    3. Re:It's hard to believe... by colmore · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The problem with IE6 is that it doesn't render CSS properly, has ugly javascript quirks, and is STILL FUCKING USED BY 30% OF THE DAMN INTERNET.

      And yes, I am a web developer.

      --
      In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
    4. Re:It's hard to believe... by devent · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Anyone who wonders why IE 6 became the de facto standard just needs to find a download of Netscape Communicator.

      I don't get it. IE became the defacto standard because it was pre-installed on MS Windows. And MS Windows became the defactor standard because it comes with every computer pre-installed.

      If, back then, the Netscape Communicator were pre-installed, the Netscape Communicator would have been the defacto standard. But Netscape didn't own an operation system. Yes, it's nice to have an operation system which with you can bundle stuff. It's good that besides ActiveX MS didn't really done anything with the IE. At least we are not living like in South Korea where you need to have IE with ActiveX to do any online banking.

      What exactly did MS anyway with the 90% market share of IE? I can't remember any technology that was really needed back then. I think they were just happy to have the market share. Right now I can't see anything that the dominance of IE have left us.

      --
      http://www.mueller-public.de - My site http://www.anr-institute.com/ - Advanced Natural Research Institute
    5. Re:It's hard to believe... by Mongoose+Disciple · · Score: 3, Informative

      I don't get it. IE became the defacto standard because it was pre-installed on MS Windows. And MS Windows became the defactor standard because it comes with every computer pre-installed.

      Ah no:

      1) Netscape came pre-installed by some (most?) OEMs at that time. I don't have numbers on this but it was hard to find a computer that didn't have it.

      2) Netscape was out first; a lot of people were settled into using Netscape before there even really was an IE. Netscape started with the dominant market position.

      3) While Netscape for a while was superior, later versions of Netscape were terrible -- as in, not as good as the previous versions of Netscape. Eventually even people who hated IE of that era (including me) started using it just because they were so damn tired of how buggy Netscape had become.

      I don't deny that Microsoft had a big and unfairly used advantage in having the dominant operating system, but in the grand scheme of things, that amounts to Microsoft trying to slip Netscape roofies while Netscape was busy firing a shotgun at itself as fast as it could.

  8. Re:IE turns 15... by jgagnon · · Score: 3, Informative

    Perhaps not, but most people are still using XP, hardly anybody has moved to Vista or Windows 7.

    I would agree that "hardly anyone" might apply to Vista, but it most certainly does not apply to Windows 7.

    --
    Remember to maintain your supply of /facepalm oil to prevent chafing.
  9. Re:IE turns 15... by characterZer0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It does not matter when the first copy of XP was sold, it matters when the last copy was sold. You cannot drop support for something that you sold a few months ago just because it has been on sale for 8 years and there are two newer versions.

    --
    Go green: turn off your refrigerator.
  10. Yes there is by zogger · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's called listening to your customers and not dictating to them what they want. Now I don't use it, but XP is still widely used, because it got "good enough" for companies and individuals to use and rely on. Same with upgrading hardware. If what you have is good enough, not broken, and does the job, there is no overwhelming need to upgrade, even if the hardware guys want you to.

    Comes a time that corporations and stockholders, etc should put the fork down, push back from the table, and realize they have eaten enough, and go into maintenance mode. Still make some money but not the boatloads they got used to. Like GM..just realize you got bloated, and cut back a lot to stay relevant. Reach a level of market share and be content with that, because all corporations can't endlessly grow forever and two days, it just isn't possible, and it is ludicrous to expect that.

        The planet has given hundreds of billion$ to microsoft..perhaps it is time they wound down and enjoy what they made so far and not expect this huge gravy train to go on forever.

  11. Re:IE turns 15... by darkpixel2k · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hardly anyone has upgraded? I don't even think I know anybody personally that hasn't upgraded from XP to Vista or 7 by now. Even the entire IT department at work is now running on 7 and all the servers are running Server 08 R2. Also, the college I graduated from last Spring is imaging all the mandatory leased student laptops with Windows 7 this year by default.

    Yes, but life outside the Microsoft campus is a bit different...

    --
    There's no place like ::1 (I've completed my transition to IPv6)