Love it or hate it, Internet Explorer (IE) has been Microsoft\u2019s window on the web for almost 20 years. In the rapidly evolving online world this is a ripe old age, and now Microsoft has decided it is time for IE to hand over the baton.<\/p>\n
Starting with Windows 10<\/a>, due for release in the northern summer, a new browser codenamed Project Spartan will appear on desktops.<\/p>\n While the end of IE\u2019s reign is welcome news for some (especially web designers), it is perhaps a little soon for them to start rejoicing just yet.<\/p>\n So where did this troublesome piece of software come from and why \u2013 despite its wide use \u2013 does it cause so much angst?<\/p>\n IE\u2019s popularity grew through the 1990s and saw it rise to be the most popular browser in 2002, where estimates placed its market share at somewhere around 95%.<\/p>\n Microsoft was able to achieve this remarkable feat by leveraging its domination of the operating system market, so IE was installed as the default browser in all Windows PCs. The main rivals browser at time were Netscape and AOL Explorer.<\/p>\n While using Windows to build IE share was a clever strategy, it was a little too clever for some.<\/p>\n In 1998 the US government used IE\u2019s integration with Windows as an example of Microsoft\u2019s anti-competitive behaviour<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2007 the European Union forced Microsoft to give EU users a choice of browser when they installed Windows, eventually fining Microsoft \u20ac561 million<\/a> (around A$785 million) for failing to comply with their ruling.<\/p>\n Despite its success IE has long been a pet hate of many web designers because traditionally it has had poor support for web standards.<\/p>\n Web standards describe how a browser should interpret and display web pages, and are defined by an international body called the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C<\/a>).<\/p>\n Browser manufacturers implement these standards to varying degrees. Firefox, Chrome and Safari all follow the standards reasonably well, but IE is infamous for only partially following standards, or simply departing from them altogether.<\/p>\n For web designers, this creates a serious issue, because web pages need to be designed so they work consistently across all browsers.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not uncommon for web designers to have to design for a number of different possible browser configurations \u2013 most of them due to variations in the way IE interprets web pages. This is both time consuming and expensive.<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, this has not endeared IE to web developers. One web developer has created a page that monitors usage of older IE browsers, counting down their usage<\/a> until designers can stop developing content for them.<\/p>\n Even Microsoft has acknowledged the browser\u2019s tarnished image, advertising its IE9 browser in 2012 with the catch-phrase \u201cthe browser you loved to hate\u201d.<\/p>\nThe rise of Internet Explorer<\/h2>\n
The bane of web designers<\/h2>\n