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Internet Explorer, abbreviated IE or MSIE, is a web browser from Microsoft, currently (as of 2003) in version 6.0 SP1 (version 5.2.3 for OS X and 5.1.7 for the classic Mac OS). Internet Explorer is by far the most widely-used web browser, for reasons that include the fact that it comes built into various versions of Microsoft Windows and used to be the default browser on the Mac OS before it was replaced by Apple's own Safari Web Browser. Internet Explorer was cited as an example of questionable product bundling in Microsoft's anti-trust case with the United States Department of Justice. Microsoft required many OEM computer manufacturers to include Internet Explorer in the copies of Windows they installed on systems they shipped, and would not allow the manufacturer to put an icon for any other web browser on the default desktop in place of Internet Explorer.
Widespread exploitation of Internet Explorer's security holes has earned IE a reputation as the least secure of the major browsers (Internet Explorer, Mozilla (including Netscape), Opera, and Konqueror). Microsoft has issued many IE security patches. On the other side of the coin, the dominance of Internet Explorer in the web browser market has led some web developers to design for their sites with IE in mind as the target browser. This means that browsing with Internet Explorer can often be freer of irritation due to other browsers' inability to run IE-specific code.
The rendering engine for the Windows version of MSIE is used in alternative interfaces, such as Avant Browser, Crazy Browser, NetCaptor, NeoPlanet, and MyIE2.
Internet Explorer started out as the Spyglass browser before being bought by Microsoft. Spyglass in turn was based on the Mosaic web browser from NCSA, one of the first graphical web browsers.
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In June, 2003, Microsoft announced that it was ceasing further development of the Apple Macintosh version of MSIE (which uses Tasman as its layout engine, opposed to Windows MSIE), since Apple has developed its own browser, currently known as Safari.
In a May 7 2003 interview published on a Microsoft webpage, Brian Countryman, Internet Explorer Program Manager declared that Internet Explorer will cease to exist as an independent program (IE 6 being the last standalone version), and will be continued as a part of the Microsoft Windows operating system product evolution.
See also: History of the InternetMS Windows version Release History
Future Developments
