#Internet explorer for mac computer free
#Internet explorer for mac computer windows

#Internet explorer for mac computer free

By the end of 2012, it dethroned Internet Explorer as the most-used desktop browser, a spot it has retained ever since.What is Google Chrome and what is it used for?Ĭhrome is a free web browser developed by the multinational company Google, which is also the owner of the largest Internet search engine under the same name, as well as other famous applications such as Google Drive, Gmail, Google Docs, and many more. By the end of 2011, Chrome had overtaken Firefox. The company was huge, and it was well-liked by both consumers and the tech press, so Chrome was able to pry off the pickle jar lid that Firefox and Safari had spent years loosening. But it was also a browser made by the biggest, most ubiquitous search engine in the world-a name that was synonymous with search in the way that Xerox was synonymous with making copies and Kleenex was synonymous with booger-wiping.Ĭhrome was released in 2008 at the height of Google's “don’t be evil' era.

But it was Chrome that broke Internet Explorer’s back.Ĭhrome combined fast rendering with an innovative new user interface that had minimal buttons and a unified bar for typing URLs and search queries, which immediately made it stand out from the crowd. Firefox and Safari had both put a serious dent in Internet Explorer, calling renewed attention to web standards and browser interoperability in the process.

More importantly, Safari was built on top of a browser engine called WebKit, which Apple open-sourced in 2005.Īnd it was WebKit that Google turned to when it began developing its own browser. It became the platform’s default browser in 2003 (and Microsoft ceased all development on IE for Mac shortly afterward, a move that Apple’s then-tiny market share probably seemed to justify). Once those five years were up, Apple quickly developed and released its own browser, called Safari. Advertisementįurther Reading Steve Jobs wanted Apple’s browser Safari called “Freedom” Firefox never overtook Internet Explorer, but it had attained double-digit market share by late 2006, a feat no other browser had managed since the demise of Netscape. Firefox popularized now-common features like tabbed browsing, an integrated search bar, and third-party extensions and themes, minor but notable additions that felt all the more revelatory after years of an unchanging Internet Explorer. The most successful browser in the short term was Mozilla Firefox, which rose from the ashes of the vanquished Netscape browser in late 2004 (after a couple of years of beta releases). Whatever the reason, after a few years of inactivity, other companies saw an opportunity and pressed their advantage. Or maybe it was just good-old-fashioned lack of competition Microsoft had wiped out all serious alternatives and decided to pull up its laurels and take a rest.

Maybe Microsoft became a victim of its own success-websites in this era were developed specifically for Internet Explorer 6 in ways that could break when viewed in other, more standards-compliant browsers, creating an aversion to change and technical debt that Microsoft is still paying off.

#Internet explorer for mac computer windows

Maybe this stagnation was a symptom of Microsoft’s behind-the-scenes development struggles during the Longhorn era or a side effect of the company’s renewed attention to security during Windows XP’s oft-extended life cycle. The best feature to come to IE in the early 2000s was probably Google Toolbar.

After iterating relentlessly from 1995 to 2001, Internet Explorer 6 began to tread water. Further Reading Take one last look at Google Toolbar, which is now deadĪnd then Internet Explorer just kind of… stopped.