Internet Explorer was one of the most widely used web browsers, attaining a peak of about 95% usage share during 2002 and 2003. This came after
Microsoft used bundling to win the first browser
war against Netscape, which was the dominant browser in the 1990s. Its usage share has since declined with the launch of
Firefox and Google Chrome, and with the growing popularity of operating systems such as macOS, Linux, iOS and Android that do not run Internet Explorer. Estimates for Internet Explorer's overall market share range from 5.45% to 27.38% or by StatCounter's numbers ranked 3rd, just after Firefox (or even as low as 6th when counting all platforms, after Opera (and behind Safari), as of
August 2016.
Microsoft spent over US$100 million per year on Internet Explorer in the late 1990s, with over 1,000
people working on it by 1999.
On March 17, 2015, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Edge will replace Internet Explorer as the default browser on its Windows 10 devices. This effectively makes Internet Explorer 11 the last release. Internet Explorer will, however, remain on some versions of Windows 10 primarily for enterprise purposes. Starting January
12,
2016, only Internet Explorer 11 is supported with more security than older versions, according to Microsoft. Support varies based on the operating system's technical capabilities and its support lifecycle.
