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Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 (IE5) is the fifth version of the Internet Explorer series of graphical web browsers by Microsoft. It is the successor to Internet Explorer 4 and one of the main participants of the first first browser war. Its integration with Windows and distribution methods were involved in the United States v. Microsoft antitrust case. Launched on March 18, 1999, it was the default browser in Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows 2000, and Windows Me and can replace previous versions of Internet Explorer on Windows 3.1x, Windows NT 3.51, Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0, and the original release of Windows 98. Although Internet Explorer 5 ran only on Windows, its siblings Internet Explorer for Mac 5 and Internet Explorer for UNIX 5 supported Mac OS X, Solaris, and HP-UX.[1]

IE5 presided over a large market share increase over Netscape Navigator between 1999 and 2001 and offered many advanced features for its day. In addition, it was compatible with the largest range of OSes of all the IE versions. However, support for many OSes quickly dropped off with later patches, and IE5 was not supported from Windows XP onward because of the inclusion of later IE versions.

IE5 attained over 50% market share by early 2000, taking the lead over other browser versions including IE4 and Netscape.[2] 5.x versions attained over 80% market share by the release of Internet Explorer 6 in August 2001.[3] 5.0x and 5.5 were surpassed by Internet Explorer 6, dropping it to the second most popular browser, with market share dropping to 34% by mid-2003.[4]

Microsoft spent over US$100 million a year[5] in the late 1990s, with over 1000 people working on IE by 1999 during the development of IE5.[6]

IE5 is the last version of Internet Explorer to support Windows 3.1x, Windows NT 3.51, Windows 95, and Windows NT 4.0 SP3 through SP6.

History

Overview

Version 5.0, launched on March 18, 1999, and subsequently bundled with Microsoft Office 2000, was a significant release that supported bi-directional text, ruby characters, XML, XSLT, and the ability to save web pages in MTHTML format. There was enhanced support for CSS Level 1 and 2, and a sidebar for web searches was introduced, allowing quick jumps throughout results.

However, Internet Explorer 5 incorrectly includes the padding and borders within a specified width or height; this results in a narrower or shorter rendering of a box. The bug was fixed in Internet Explorer 6 when running in standards-compliant mode.

With the release of Internet Explorer 5.0, Microsoft released the first version of XMLHttpRequest (XHR), giving birth to Ajax (even though the term "Ajax" was not coined until years later). XMLHttpRequest is an API that can be used by JavaScript and other Web browser scripting languages to transfer XML and other text data between a page's client-side and server-side, and has been available since the introduction of Internet Explorer 5.0 and is accessible via JScript, VBScript, and other scripting languages supported by IE browsers. Windows Script Host was also installed with IE5, although later on, viruses and malware would attempt to use this ability as an exploit, which resulted in pressure to disable it for security reasons. The Smart Offline Favorites feature was added to the Active Desktop component introduced in IE4.

An "HTML Application" is a Windows application written in HTML and Dynamic HTML, introduced with IE5. Internet Explorer 5.0 also introduced favicon support and Windows Script Host, which provides scripting capabilities comparable to batch files, but with a greater range of supported features.

Because of United States v. Microsoft, the Active Channels channel bar was removed in IE5.

Version 5.5 followed in June 2000. It focused on improved print preview capabilities, CSS and HTML standards support, and developer APIs. It also includes support for 128-bit encryption. Although it is no longer available for download from Microsoft directly, it can also be installed with MSN Explorer 6.0 as msnsetup_full.exe. The full version of MSN Explorer can be downloaded only if Internet Explorer 5.5 has not yet been installed. The full version will work, but a user will need to download it on earlier Windows versions and transfer the setup file to the newer operating system. If a user still wants to download it on a newer operating system, the only way is to use an outdated web browser such as Netscape 4.8.

United States v. Microsoft Corp.

Main article: United States v. Microsoft

On April 3, 2000, Judge Jackson issued his findings of fact that Microsoft had abused its monopoly position by attempting to "dissuade Netscape from developing Navigator as a platform", that it "withheld crucial technical information", and attempted to reduce Navigator's usage share by "giving Internet Explorer away and rewarding firms that helped build its usage share" and "excluding Navigator from important distribution channels".

Jackson also released a remedy that suggested Microsoft should be broken up into two companies. This remedy was overturned on appeal, amidst charges that Jackson had revealed a bias against Microsoft in communication with reporters. The findings of fact that Microsoft had broken the law, however, were upheld. The Department of Justice announced on September 6, 2001, that it was no longer seeking to break up Microsoft and would instead seek a lesser antitrust penalty. Several months later, the Department of Justice agreed on a settlement with Microsoft.

Features

IE5 introduced many new or improved features:

Bundled software

IE5 for Windows came with Windows Media Player 6.0 (with new Real Audio codecs), NetMeeting 2.11, Chat 2.5, and FrontPage Express 2.0. Other optional installs included Offline Browsing Pack, Internet Explorer Core Web Fonts, and VBScript support. Internet Explorer versions 5.0 and 5.5 are no longer available from Microsoft.

References

  1. ↑ "Microsoft Unveils Faster, Simpler and More Reliable Internet Explorer 5 Macintosh Edition". Microsoft PressPass. Microsoft. January 5, 2000. Archived from the original on February 29, 2000. 
  2. ↑ "The Counter, March 2000". TheCounter.com. Archived from the original on December 8, 2004. 
  3. ↑ "The Counter, August 2001". TheCounter.com. Archived from the original on December 8, 2001. 
  4. ↑ "The Counter, August 2003". TheCounter.com. Archived from the original on March 7, 2005. 
  5. ↑ Borland, John (April 15, 2003). "Victor: Software empire pays high price". CNET. Archived from the original on August 6, 2012. 
  6. ↑ "Memoirs From the Browser Wars". EricSink.com. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. 

External links

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