The integration with Windows, however, was subject to numerous packaging criticisms (see United States v.
Installing version 4 on a Windows 95 or Windows NT 4 machine and choosing Windows Desktop Update would result in the traditional Windows Explorer being replaced by a version more akin to a web browser interface, as well as the Windows desktop itself being web-enabled via Active Desktop. Internet Explorer 4, released in September 1997, deepened the level of integration between the web browser and the underlying operating system. Backwards compatibility was handled by allowing users who upgraded to IE3 to still use the last IE, because the installation converted the previous version to a separate directory. The first major IE security hole, the Princeton Word Macro Virus Loophole, was discovered on 22 August 1996 in IE3. The Internet Explorer team consisted of roughly 100 people during the development of three months. This version of Internet Explorer was the first to have the 'blue e' logo. In the months following its release, a number of security and privacy vulnerabilities were found by researchers and hackers. Version 3 proved to be the first more popular version of Internet Explorer, bringing with it increased scrutiny. Version 3 also came bundled with Internet Mail and News, NetMeeting, and an early version of the Windows Address Book, and was itself included with Windows 95 OSR 2. It also introduced support for ActiveX controls, Java applets, inline multimedia, and the PICS system for content metadata. Internet Explorer 3 was the first major browser with CSS support, although this support was only partial. Internet Explorer 3 was released on 13 August 1996 and went on to be much more popular than its predecessors.
Internet Explorer for Mac and Internet Explorer for UNIX ( Solaris and HP-UX) have been discontinued. It remains in development alongside the desktop versions. Versions of Internet Explorer for other operating systems have also been produced, including an Xbox 360 version called Internet Explorer for Xbox and an embedded OEM version called Pocket Internet Explorer, later rebranded Internet Explorer Mobile, which is currently based on Internet Explorer 9 and made for Windows Phone, Windows CE, and previously, based on Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Mobile.
The latest stable release is Internet Explorer 10, with a new interface allowing for use as both a desktop application, and as a Windows 8 application.
The browser has also received scrutiny throughout its development for use of third-party technology (such as the source code of Spyglass Mosaic, used without royalty in early versions) and security and privacy vulnerabilities, and both the United States and the European Union have alleged that integration of Internet Explorer with Windows has been to the detriment of other browsers. Since its first release, Microsoft has added features and technologies such as basic table display (in version 1.5) XMLHttpRequest (in version 5), which aids creation of dynamic web pages and Internationalized Domain Names (in version 7), which allow Web sites to have native-language addresses with non- Latin characters. Microsoft spent over US$100 million per year on Internet Explorer in the late 1990s, with over 1000 people working on it by 1999. Estimates for Internet Explorer's overall market share range from 27.4% to 54.13%, as of October 2012 (browser market share is notoriously difficult to calculate). Its usage share has since declined with the launch of Safari (2003), Firefox (2004), and Google Chrome (2008), each of which now has significant market share. Internet Explorer is one of the most widely used web browsers, attaining a peak of about 95% usage share during 20. Later versions were available as free downloads, or in service packs, and included in the OEM service releases of Windows 95 and later versions of Windows. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year.
Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or MSIE) is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995.