Internet Explorer 5

Internet Explorer 5
Developer(s)Microsoft
Initial releaseMarch 18, 1999; 25 years ago (1999-03-18)[1]
Stable release
5.5 Service Pack 2 (5.50.4807.2300) / July 23, 2001; 23 years ago (2001-07-23)[2]
EngineMSHTML
Operating system
Included withWindows 98 Second Edition, Windows 2000 and Windows ME
PredecessorInternet Explorer 4 (1997)
SuccessorInternet Explorer 6 (2001)
LicenseProprietary software
WebsiteInternet Explorer Home

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 (IE5) is the fifth, and by now, discontinued, version of the Internet Explorer graphical web browser, the successor to Internet Explorer 4 and one of the main participants of the first browser war. Its distribution methods and Windows integration were involved in the United States v. Microsoft Corp. case. Launched on March 18, 1999. 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.[3]

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 later Windows versions are not supported, because of inclusion of later IE versions. The 1999 review in PC World noted, "Credit the never-ending game of browser one-upsmanship that Netscape and Microsoft play. The new IE 5 trumps Netscape Communicator with smarter searching and accelerated browsing."[4]

IE5 attained over 50% market share by early 2000, taking the lead over other browser versions including IE4 and Netscape.[5] 5.x versions attained over 80% market share by the release of IE6 in August 2001.[6] 5.0x and 5.5 were surpassed by Internet Explorer 6.0, dropping it to the second most popular browser, with market share dropping to 34 percent by mid-2003.[7] In addition, Firefox 1.0 had overtaken it in market share by early 2005.[8] Market share of IE5 fell below 1% by the end of 2006, right when Internet Explorer 7 was released.[9]

Microsoft spent over US$100 million a year[10] in the late 1990s, with over 1000 people working on IE by 1999 during the development of IE5.[11]

The rendering behavior of Internet Explorer 5.x lives on in other browsers' quirks modes.[12] Internet Explorer 5 is no longer available for download from Microsoft.

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

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference mspress was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference q164539 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Microsoft Unveils Faster, Simpler and More Reliable Internet Explorer 5 Macintosh Edition". Microsoft press release. January 5, 2000. Archived from the original on February 14, 2005. Retrieved April 1, 2007.
  4. ^ timestamp(919411200000,'longDateTime') (February 19, 1999). "Internet Explorer 5.0 Review, PC World, 1999". Pcworld.com. Archived from the original on September 23, 2009. Retrieved April 25, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ "The Counter, March 2000". Thecounter.com. Archived from the original on December 8, 2004. Retrieved April 25, 2012.
  6. ^ "The Counter, August 2001". Thecounter.com. Archived from the original on December 8, 2001. Retrieved April 25, 2012.
  7. ^ "The Counter, August 2003". Thecounter.com. Archived from the original on March 7, 2005. Retrieved April 25, 2012.
  8. ^ "Netscape's Market Share, March 2005". Marketshare.hitslink.com. Archived from the original on February 19, 2008. Retrieved April 25, 2012.
  9. ^ "Netscape's Market Share, December 2006". Marketshare.hitslink.com. Retrieved April 25, 2012.
  10. ^ "Victor: Software empire pays high price | CNET". News.com. April 15, 2003. Archived from the original on January 9, 2009. Retrieved April 25, 2012.
  11. ^ "Memoirs From the Browser Wars". Ericsink.com. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved April 25, 2012.
  12. ^ Bright, Peter (January 25, 2008). "Wisdom and folly: IE8's super standards mode cuts both ways". Ars Technica. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on July 19, 2019. Retrieved July 19, 2019.