Internet Explorer 4
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 (IE4) is the fourth, and by now, discontinued, version of the Internet Explorer graphical web browser that Microsoft unveiled in Spring of 1997, and released on September 22, 1997, primarily for Microsoft Windows, but also with versions available for the classic Mac OS, Solaris, and HP-UX and marketed as "The Web the Way You Want It".
Screenshot Internet Explorer 4 in Windows 98 | |
| Developer(s) | Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Initial release |
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| Stable release |
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| Engine | MSHTML |
| Operating system |
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| Platform | x86, 68k (Up to 4.5), PPC, Alpha AXP, PA-RISC, and SPARC |
| Included with | Windows 95 OSR 2.5 and Windows 98 First Edition |
| Predecessor | Internet Explorer 3 (1996) |
| Successor | Internet Explorer 5 (1999) |
| Type | Web browser |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | replay |
It was 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. It was superseded by Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 in March 1999. It was the default browser in Windows 95 OSR 2.5 and Windows 98 First Edition (later default was Internet Explorer 5), and can replace previous versions of Internet Explorer on Windows 3.1x, Windows NT 3.51, Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0; in addition the Internet Explorer layout engine MSHTML (Trident) was introduced. It attained just over 60% market share by March 1999 when IE5 was released. In August 2001 when Internet Explorer 6 was released, IE4.x had dropped to 7% market share and IE5 had increased to 80%. IE4 market share dropped under 1% by 2004.
Internet Explorer 4 is no longer available for download from Microsoft. However, archived versions of the software can be found on various websites.