| Internet Explorer 2 | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Screenshot of Internet Explorer 2 | |
| Developer | Microsoft |
| Initial release | November 27, 1995; 29 years ago (1995-11-27) |
| Stable release | Windows: 2.01 / August 1996; 29 years ago (1996-08) Mac OS: 2.1 / August 1996; 29 years ago (1996-08) |
| Operating system | |
| Platform | x86 (16- and 32-bit),68k,PowerPC,MIPS,Alpha AXP |
| Included with | Windows 95 OSR1 andWindows NT 4.0 |
| Predecessor | Internet Explorer 1.0 (1995) Internet Explorer 1.5 (1996) |
| Successor | Internet Explorer 3 (1996) |
| Available in | 24 languages[1] |
| Type | Web browser |
| License | Freeware |
| Website | www |
Microsoft Internet Explorer 2 (IE2) is the second version ofInternet Explorer (IE), a graphicalweb browser byMicrosoft. It was unveiled in October 1995, and was released on November 27, 1995, forMicrosoft Windows, and on April 23, 1996, forApple Macintosh.[2][1]
Version 2 launched with 12 languages, including English, but this would expand to 24, 20, and 9.[1] It lacked many features that became common in later IE versions, including the blue 'e' logo, integration withWindows Explorer, and bundled programs.[2] Its market share was also much lower than later versions. During its tenure, IE market share only went up to about roughly 3-9%.[3][4]
It is the last version of Internet Explorer to supportWindows NT 3.1.
Internet Explorer 2 is no longer supported, and is not available for download from Microsoft.
IE replicated many of the quirks ofNetscape Navigator, and allowed importing bookmarks from it.[5] In May 1996,FTP Software announced it was providing Microsoft with various technology forInternet Explorer 2.0, including a PPP network, 16-bit email client, and other technology.[6]
Internet Explorer version 2 was released in beta in October 1995, only 2 months after version 1 came out inMicrosoft Plus! for 95 that August. It was released for Microsoft Windows in November 1995. The Beta for Mac onPowerPC came out in January, and the finalized version in April for68k and PowerPC. The Mac version was not released until January 1996 for PPC, and April for 68k.[2] Version 2 was included in Microsoft'sInternet Starter Kit in early 1996.[1] 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.[1] The 2.0i version supporteddouble-byte character-sets for supporting Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters inweb pages.[1] Version 2.1 for the Mac came out in August 1996,[5] the same month version 2 for Windows was superseded by MicrosoftInternet Explorer 3.[7] There were16-bit and32-bit versions depending on the OS.
The Mac version, especially version 2.1, was praised for being economic with resources and for new features.[5] Internet Explorer supported the embedding of a number of multimedia formats into web pages, includingAVI andQuickTime formatted video andAIFF,MIDI andWAV formatted audio.[5] The non-beta final version was released three months later on April 23, 1996.[citation needed] Version 2.1 fixed bugs and improving stability, but also added a few features such as support for theNPAPI (the first version of Internet Explorer on any platform to do so) and support forQuickTime VR.[5]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 NT-based systems would use the 16 bit versions.
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)[5]
IE2 introduced new or improved features for its time period. Many soon became ubiquitous (such as cookies) while others such as the integrated email client were removed in later versions due to being out of scope and better covered by dedicated software likeOutlook.[8][9] The features are:
<bgsound>...</bgsound>[5][failed verification]| Version | Release date | Significant changes | Shipped with |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.0 Beta | October 1995 | Support of HTML tables and other elements | |
| 2.0 | November 27, 1995 | SSL,cookies,VRML, andInternet newsgroups. | Windows 95 OSR1 Windows NT 4.0 Internet Starter Kit[1] |
| 2.01 | August 1996[11] | Bug fix release. Last version forWindows NT 3.1. |
| Version | Release date | Significant changes |
|---|---|---|
| 2.0 Beta | January 23, 1996 | Beta for PPC only |
| 2.0 | April 23, 1996 | PPC and 68k Supported |
| 2.1 | August 1996 | Bug fixes;NPAPI support[5] |
| Preceded by | Internet Explorer 2 1995 | Succeeded by |
