Internet Explorer 5 in Windows 98 |
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| Developer(s) | Microsoft |
| Initial release | March 18, 1999/ 5.0[1] |
| Stable release | July 2000/ 5.5[2] |
| Development status | Discontinued Superseded by IE 6.0. |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows (3.1 to 2000) Mac OS X (up to 5.2.3) Mac OS (up to 5.1.7) Solaris and HP-UX (up to 5.01 SP1) |
| License | MS-EULA 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 |
| Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x A component of Microsoft Windows |
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|---|---|
| Details | |
| Included with | Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000 and Windows ME |
| Replaces | Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 |
| Replaced by | Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 |
| Related components | |
| Internet Explorer | |
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 (abbreviated as IE5) was a graphical web browser released in March 1999 by Microsoft, primarily for Microsoft Windows, but initially with versions available for Apple Macintosh, Sun Solaris, and HP-UX. (See also Internet Explorer for Mac, Internet Explorer for UNIX)
It was one of the main participants of the first browser war. Its distribution methods and Windows integration were involved in United States v. Microsoft. It was superseded by Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 in August 2001, although IE5.x remains the last version for Windows 3.1x, Windows NT 3.x, and Windows 95. Version 5.0 was included with Windows 98 Second Edition (using the Trident II layout), and 5.5 with Windows Me (Trident III) when they were introduced. The Mac edition came out in 2000 and was included with Mac OS X, and the Tasman layout engine.[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 largest range of OS of all the IE versions. However, support for many OS quickly dropped off with later patches, and Windows XP and later Windows versions are not supported, because of inclusion of later IE.
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]
Internet Explorer 5 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, by early 2005 Firefox 1.0 had overtaken it in market share.[8] Version 5.x market share fell below 1% by the end of 2006.[9]
Microsoft spent over 100 million dollars (USD) a year [10] in the late 1990s, with over 1000 people working on IE by 1999 during the development of IE5.[11]
Internet Explorer 5.x rendering behavior lives on in other browsers' quirks modes.[12] Internet Explorer 5 is no longer available for download from Microsoft. However, archived 16- and 32-bit versions are publicly available on the Evolt.org browser archive.
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The actual release of Internet Explorer 5 happened in three stages. Firstly, a Developer Preview was released in June 1998 (5.0B1), and then a Public Preview was released in November 1998 (5.0B2). Then in March 1999 the final release was released (5.0). In September it was released with Windows 98 Second Edition. Version 5.01, a bug fix version, was released in December 1999. Windows 2000 includes this version. Version 5.0 was the last one to be released for Windows 3.1x or Windows NT 3.x. Internet Explorer 5 Macintosh Edition had been released a few months earlier on March 27, 2000, and was the last version of Internet Explorer to be released on a non-Windows platform. Version 5.5 for Windows was released in July 2000, bundled with Windows Me and 128-bit encryption but had no support for several older Windows.
A 1999 review of IE5 by Paul Thurrott described IE5 in ways such as, "Think of IE 5.0 as IE 4.0 done right: All of the rough areas have been smoothed out..", "....comes optionally bundled with a full suite of Internet applications that many people are going to find irresistible.", "IE 5.0 is a world-class suite of Internet applications." [14]
Microsoft ended all support for Internet Explorer 5.5, including security updates, on December 31, 2005.[15] Microsoft continued to support Internet Explorer 5.01 on Windows 2000 SP4, according to its Support Lifecycle Policy however as with Windows 2000 this support was removed on July 13, 2010.[16]
Version 5.0, launched on March 18, 1999, and subsequently included with Windows 98 Second Edition and bundled with Office 2000, was a significant release that supported bi-directional text, ruby characters, XML, XSLT and the ability to save web pages in MHTML format. There was enhanced support for CSS Level 1 and 2. The first release of Windows 98 in 1998 had included IE4. 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.[17] 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,[18] and was available since the introduction of Internet Explorer 5.0[19] 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 pressure to disable it for security reasons.[20] Smart Offline Favorites feature was added to the Active Desktop component introduced in IE4.
An "HTML Application" (HTA) is a Microsoft Windows application written with HTML and Dynamic HTML and introduced with IE5. Internet Explorer 5.0 also introduced favicon support[21] and Windows Script Host, which provides scripting capabilities comparable to batch files, but with a greater range of supported features.
Version 5.5 followed in July 2000. First released to developers at the 2000 Professional Developers Conference in Orlando, Florida, then made available for download, version 5.5 focused on improved print preview capabilities, CSS and HTML standards support, and developer APIs; this version was bundled with Windows Me. Version 5.5 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 you use Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE and Windows 2000 if Internet Explorer 5.5 has not yet been installed. The full version will work on also Windows ME and Windows XP but you will need to download it on Windows 2000 or earlier and transfer the setup file to the newer operating system. If you still want to download it on a newer operating system the only way is to use an outdated web browser such as Netscape 4.8.
Although newer browsers have been released, IE5 rendering mode continues to have an impact, as a 2008 Ars Technica article notes:
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".[22]
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 agreement with Microsoft. As of 2004[update], although nineteen states have agreed to the settlement, Massachusetts was still holding out.
IE5 introduced many new or improved features:[23]
IE5 for Windows came with Windows Media Player 6.0 (with new Real Audio codecs), NetMeeting 2.11, and Chat 2.5, FrontPage Express 2.0. Other optional installs included Offline Browsing Pack, Internet Explorer Core Web Fonts, and Visual Basic Scripting (VBScript) support.[28] Internet Explorer versions 5.0 and 5.5 are no longer available from Microsoft.
| Internet Explorer Market Share
— Jul 2011[29] via Net Applications [note 1] |
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| Internet Explorer 6 | 9.22% | |
| Internet Explorer 7 | 6.25% | |
| Internet Explorer 8 | 29.23% | |
| Internet Explorer 9 | 6.80% | |
| All variants | 52.71% | |
|---|---|---|
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Internet Explorer 5.0 is the last version to support Windows 3.1x, Windows NT 3.x, Windows NT 4.0 (Service Pack 3 or later). Support for NT 3.x was dropped after that, as well as support for HP-UX, Solaris, Mac OS, and Mac OS X. Windows 2000 was the last to support IE 5.0 (with which it was released) well after support in other Windows systems was deprecated. IE 5.5 SP2 is the last for Windows 95. In addition, users of Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0 SP6a, and Windows 2000 could upgrade to IE 6.0 SP1. IE5 was not developed for 68k Macs, support for which had been dropped in Internet Explorer 4.5.
Internet Explorer 5 for Apple Macintosh requirements.[32]
Also, Mac OS X shipped with Internet Explorer 5.1 as the default Web Browser.
| Major version | Minor version | Release date | Significant changes | Shipped with |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Version 5 | 5.0 Beta 1 | June 2, 1998 | Support of more CSS2 features. | |
| 5.0 Beta 2 | November 15, 1998 | Support of bi-directional text, ruby character, XML/XSL and more CSS properties. | ||
| 5.0 | March 18, 1999[1] | Final release. Last version supported on Windows 3.1x and Windows NT 3.x. | Windows 98 SE | |
| 5.01 | November 8, 1999 | Bug fix release. Support ended on July 13, 2010. | Windows 2000 | |
| 5.5 Beta 1 | December 25, 1999 | Support of more CSS properties. Minor changes to support of frames. | ||
| 5.5 | July 8, 2000 | Final release. Last version supported on Windows 95. | Windows Me | |
| 5.6 | August 18, 2000 | Unique version with Windows Whistler (XP) beta. | Windows Whistler build 2257 |
Mac OS:
Mac OS X:
Shdocvw.dll version numbers plus related notes.[2]
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