Internet Explorer

The browser that won the war and lost the peace

Replaced
19902026

Internet Explorer was the world's dominant web browser for a decade, bundled with Windows from 1995 and peaking around 95% market share in 2003. Stagnation after victory, an antitrust case, and the rise of Firefox and Chrome undid it; Microsoft retired IE11 on 15 June 2022 in favour of Edge.

Timeline [edit]

  1. 1995
  2. 16 August 1995 Launch
    IE 1.0 ships in the Windows 95 Plus! pack

    A licensed Mosaic derivative enters the browser war.

  3. 1997
  4. October 1997 Version
    IE4 integrates the browser into Windows

    The bundling strategy that wins the market and triggers the antitrust case.

  5. 1998
  6. 18 May 1998 Legal
    United States v. Microsoft

    The browser bundling becomes the centre of the landmark antitrust trial.

  7. 2001
  8. 27 August 2001 Version
    IE6 ships with Windows XP

    The version the world would be stuck with for five years.

  9. 2003
  10. 2003 Peak
    Roughly 95% of the browser market

    The most complete browser dominance the web has seen.

  11. 2004
  12. 9 November 2004 Decline
    Firefox 1.0 launches

    The Mozilla rebirth starts pulling users away.

  13. 2008
  14. 2 September 2008 Decline
    Google Chrome launches

    The browser that would take the crown.

  15. 2015
  16. 29 July 2015 Decline
    Edge replaces IE as the Windows default

    IE remains only for compatibility.

  17. 2021
  18. 19 May 2021 Shutdown announced
    Retirement date announced

    Microsoft sets 15 June 2022 for the IE11 desktop app.

  19. 2022
  20. 15 June 2022 Shutdown
    Internet Explorer retires

    Out of support; Edge with IE mode is the official path.

  21. 2023
  22. 14 February 2023 Incident
    Edge update disables IE for good

    The remaining consumer installs are switched off.

The site through time

Browse microsoft.com as it was, via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine:

1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2022 Full archive →

Ownership [edit]

Microsoft 1995–2022 Founded Developed in-house, initially from licensed Spyglass Mosaic code

Key figures [edit]

MetricValueAs ofConfidence
Market share (%) ▲ 95% 2003 Reported Usage share estimates around 2002-2003

Confirmed official figures · Reported media, cites a source · Estimated analyst or our estimate

Why it shut down [edit]

Official line: Microsoft retired the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application on 15 June 2022, pointing users to Microsoft Edge with IE mode for legacy sites.

Our analysis: IE won the 90s browser war through Windows bundling, then stagnated for years (five years between IE6 and IE7). Firefox and then Chrome outran it on speed and standards, and its own maker replaced it rather than fix its reputation.

History [edit]

Bundled to victory

Internet Explorer 1.0 shipped in August 1995 in the Windows 95 Plus! pack, a licensed derivative of Mosaic thrown against Netscape Navigator's near-monopoly. Microsoft iterated ferociously: IE4 in 1997 integrated the browser into Windows itself, which crushed Netscape's market share and put Microsoft in front of a federal judge. United States v. Microsoft was, at its heart, a case about this browser.

By 2003 IE held roughly 95% of the market, the most complete browser monopoly the web has ever seen. And then Microsoft essentially stopped. IE6 shipped in 2001; IE7 arrived five years later. In that gap the modern web was born, and it was born hating IE6's quirks, security holes and missing standards support.

The long goodbye

Firefox took the enthusiasts from 2004; Chrome took everyone else from 2008. IE's share fell continuously for fifteen years while web developers kept expensive IE-compatibility layers alive. Microsoft built Edge as its successor in 2015, moved it to Chromium in 2020, and retired the IE11 desktop app on 15 June 2022. In February 2023 an Edge update disabled IE permanently on consumer Windows. Corporate intranets still whisper its name through Edge's IE mode, which Microsoft promises to keep alive through at least 2029.

Similar projects

Netscape Navigator The browser that opened the web 1994–2008 Adobe Flash The plugin that animated the web 1996–2020

Sources [edit]

  1. The future of Internet Explorer on Windows 10 is in Microsoft Edge Microsoft 19 May 2021 [archived]
  2. Internet Explorer 11 has retired and is officially out of support Microsoft 15 June 2022 [archived]

Last verified: 11 August 2026. Spotted an error? Suggest an edit (corrections with sources are reviewed and applied).