Internet Explorer 2

Internet Explorer 2.0 under Windows for Workgroups 3.11
Developed by	Microsoft
Initial release	November 1995/ 2.0 (PC) April 1996 / 2.0 (Mac)
Latest release	2.01 (PC) 2.1 (Mac)
OS	Windows 3.1, 95, NT Mac OS 7, 8
Platform	x86 (16- and 32-bit), 68k, PowerPC
Available in	Up to 24 different languages
Development status	Discontinued Superseded by 3.0
Type	Web Browser
License	MS-EULA 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8

Microsoft Internet Explorer 2 (Internet Explorer 2.0) is a graphical web browser released in November 1995 by Microsoft for Windows 95 and Windows NT and in April 1996 for Apple Macintosh^[1] (see IE for Mac) and Windows 3.1. Version 2.0 featured support for SSL, cookies, VRML, and Internet newsgroups.

Version 2 was also included in Microsoft's Internet Starter Kit for Windows 95 in early 1996, which retailed for 19.99 USD and included how-to book and 30 days of internet accesses on MSN among other features.^[2][3][4] In addition to being sold in the starter kit, Internet Explorer 2 was the first version to be included in OSR versions of Windows; it was bundled with Windows 95 OSR 1. There were 16-bit and 32-bit versions depending on the OS. Version 2.1 came out for Macintosh in August 1996, the same month version 2 for Windows was superseded by Microsoft Internet Explorer 3, which was heavily changed from version 2.

Version 2 launched with twelve languages including English but this expanded to 24, 20, and 9 for Windows 95, Windows 3.1 and Mac respectively by April 1996.^[5] The 2.0i version supported double-byte character-set.^[5] It lacked many features that became common in later IE versions, including the Blue 'e' logo, integration with Windows Explorer, and bundled programs. Its market share was also much lower than later versions. During its tenure, IE market share only went up to about roughly 3-9% by mid 1996, before IE3 came out.^[6][7]

History

Internet Explorer version 2 was released in beta in October 1995, only 2 months after version 1 came out in Microsoft Plus! for 95 that August. It was released for Windows 95 and Windows NT 3.5 in November 1995 and was bundled with NT 4.0 in July 1996. The Beta for Mac on PowerPC came out in January, and the finalized version in April for 68k and PowerPC. Version 2 featured support for SSL, cookies, VRML, RSA, and Internet newsgroups. Version 2 was also the first release for Windows 3.1 and Macintosh System 7.0.1(PPC or 68k), although the Mac version was not released until January 1996 for PPC, and April for 68k.^[8] Version 2.1 for the Mac came out in August of 1996. Version 2 was included in Windows 95 OSR 1 and Microsoft's Internet Starter Kit for Windows 95 in early 1996,^[9] It launched with twelve languages including english but this expanded to 24, 20, and 9 for Win 95, Win 3.1 and Mac respectively by April 1996.^[5] The 2.0i version supported double-byte character-set.^[5]

The Mac version supported the embedding of a number of multimedia formats into web pages, including AVI and QuickTime formatted video and AIFF and WAV formatted audio. The non-beta final version was released three months later on April 23 1996. Version 2.1 fixed bugs and improving stability, but also added a few features such as support for the NPAPI (the first version of Internet Explorer on any platform to do so) and support for QuickTime VR. AOL 3.0 for Macintosh used the IE 2.1 rendering engine in its built-in web browser. The various 16 and 32 bit versions largely depended on the OS although Windows NT would use the 16 bit versions for Windows 3.1.

Netscape has enjoyed a virtual monopoly of the browser market (about 90% according to some estimates), and this has allowed it to consolidate its position still further by introducing unofficial or 'extended' HTML tags. As a result, the Web is littered with pages that only work effectively if viewed in Navigator. By the time other browsers catch up, Netscape has made even more additions.

—Jack Weber, MacUser 1996

IE replicated many of the quirks of Netscape, and allowed importing bookmarks from it.^[10] In May 1996 FTP Software announced it was providing Microsoft with various technology for Internet Explorer 2.0 for Windows 3.1, including a PPP network, 16-bit email client, and other technology.^[11]

Features

IE2 introduced new or improved features for its time period. Many soon became ubiquitous (such as cookies) while other features became obsolete.^[12][13]

• Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol ^[12]
• HTTP cookies ^[12]
• Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) ^[12]
• Internet newsgroups (NNTP) ^[12]
• JavaScript support ^[13]
• HTML Frames element support ^[13]

Versions

Overview

Windows

Mac

Extended

Shdocvw.dll version numbers plus related notes.^[14] Unlike later versions, early IE version numbers were numerically out of sync with the .dll numbers because they were based of the Windows version numbers (due to its beginnings in the Microsoft Plus! pack, which also based of the Windows number). IE 1 started with 4.4 because Windows 95 was version 4 of Microsoft Windows.

• major version.minor version.build number.sub-build number
• 4.40.308 Internet Explorer 1.0 (Plus! for Windows 95)
• 4.40.520 Internet Explorer 2.0
• 4.70.1155 Internet Explorer 3.0

References

See also

Microsoft portal

• Netscape Navigator

External links

• MacUser Internet Explorer 2.1 for Mac review
• Internet Explorer Architecture
• Internet Explorer Community — The official Microsoft Internet Explorer Community
• Internet Explorer History
• MSDN Introduction to Active Channel Technology