Microsoft officially announced the retirement of its iconic web browser Internet Explorer on Wednesday.
Internet Explorer was launched in 1995 as an add-on package for Windows 95, the first Windows with the “start” button.
Microsoft released 11 versions of Internet Explorer from 1995 to 2013.
The last version, Internet Explorer 11, was released in 2013 before being replaced by Microsoft Edge.
Rise and fall
For most of the early 2000s, Internet Explorer was the most widely used web browser, peaking at 95% user share in 2003, reports Al Jazeera.
Internet Explorer was the default web browser in Microsoft’s Windows operating system which is one of the reasons for its epic rise.
But the launch of Firefox in 2002 and Google Chrome in 2008 resulted in its decline in usage.
Its market share fell below 50% in 2010, and in 2012 Google Chrome surpassed Internet Explorer as the world’s most used web browser.
Today six out of every 10 internet users browse the web using Google Chrome.
According to StatCounter, in nearly every country across the world Google Chrome is the most widely used browser while Apple’s Safari is the world’s second most popular browser, followed by Firefox.
