Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 (IE4) is the fourth 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". 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.
Overview
The Internet Explorer 4.0 Platform Preview was released in April 1997, and Platform Preview 2.0 in July that year. Internet Explorer 4 was released to the public on September 22, 1997, and deepened the level of integration between the web browser and the underlying operating system. Installing version 4 and choosing "Windows Desktop Update" would result in the traditional Windows Explorer being replaced by a version more akin to a web browser interface, as well as the Windows desktop itself being web-enabled via Active Desktop. The integration with Windows, however, was subject to numerous packaging criticisms (see United States v. Microsoft Corp.). This option was no longer available with the installers for later versions of Internet Explorer but was not removed from the system if already installed. Internet Explorer 4 introduced support for Group Policy, allowing companies to configure and lock down many aspects of the browser's configuration. Internet Mail and News was replaced with Outlook Express, and Microsoft Chat and an improved NetMeeting were also included. Version 4.5 (only for Mac) dropped support for 68k Macs, but offered new features such as easier 128-bit encryption. The last non-Mac version was 4.0 Service Pack 2. Uninstalling IE4 became the subject of concern to some users and was a point of contention in later lawsuits (see Removal of Internet Explorer and United States v. Microsoft Corp..)
Internet Explorer version 4.0 for Macintosh
<!-- Initial Version (2008) based on Internet Explorer for Mac IE4 section -->
On January 6, 1998, at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, Microsoft announced the release of the final version of Internet Explorer version 4.0 for Macintosh. Version 4 includes support for offline browsing, Dynamic HTML, a new faster Java virtual machine and Security Zones that allow users or administrators to limit access to certain types of web content depending on which zone (for example Intranet or Internet) the content is coming from. At the same event, Apple announced the release of Mac OS 8.1, which would be bundled with IE4.
At the following year's San Francisco Macworld Expo on January 9, 1999, Microsoft announced the release of Internet Explorer 4.5 Macintosh Edition. This new version dropped 68K processor support, introduced Form AutoFill, Print Preview, and Page Holder pane, which allowed user to hold a page of links on one side of the screen that opens pages in the right hand and support for Mac OS technology like Sherlock.
Internet Explorer 4 for Unix
thumb|right|Internet Explorer 4 for [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]]
On November 5, 1997, a beta of IE for Unix 4.0 was released for testing on Solaris. It was further reported that versions for "HP-UX, IBM AIX, and Irix" were planned. On March 4, 1998, IE 4.0 for Unix on Solaris was released. Later that year, a version for HP-UX was released.
Features, technology, and integrated software
IE4 came with Active Desktop, Windows Desktop Update, Channels, Frontpage Express, Netmeeting, NetShow, Web Publishing Wizard, Microsoft Chat 2.0 and Progressive Networks RealPlayer. Stephen Reid of PC Pro noted in his review:
- RealPlayer was a streaming media player made by Progressive Networks (later called RealNetworks). The first version of RealPlayer was introduced in April 1995 as RealAudio Player and was one of the first media players capable of streaming media over the Internet.
Active Desktop
<!-- Image with inadequate rationale removed: thumb|right|The Channel Bar, is an Active Desktop item -->
Active Desktop is a feature of Internet Explorer's optional Windows Desktop Update that allows the user to add HTML content to the desktop, along with some other features. Active Desktop placed many "channels" on the user's computer desktop that provided continually-updated information, such as news headlines and stock quotes, without requiring the user to open a web browser.
Channels
<!-- Image with inadequate rationale removed: thumb|Active Channels overview in IE4 -->
Active Channel is a website type which allows synchronizing website content and viewing it offline. It makes use of the Channel Definition Format, which is a way of defining a website's content and structure. Each country had different channels, so picking a country during the installation of IE 4 was important. Channels could be displayed in a Channel Bar and made heavy use of Dynamic HTML.
Windows Desktop Update
Windows Desktop Update was an optional feature included with Internet Explorer 4, which provided several updated shell features for older versions of Microsoft Windows. The Windows Desktop Update also added the ability to create desk-bands like the quicklaunch bar. It also updated the Windows file manager, explorer.exe (also a shell), to be more modular and extensible.
MSHTML
MSHTML (Trident) was a layout engine introduced with IE4. It was designed as a software component to allow software developers to easily add web browsing functionality to their own applications. It presents a COM interface for accessing and editing web pages in any COM-supported environment, like C++ and .NET. For instance, the WebBrowser control can be added to a C++ program and MSHTML can then be used to access the page currently displayed in the web browser and retrieve element values. Events from the WebBrowser control can also be captured. MSHTML functionality becomes available by connecting the file to the software project.
Browser Helper Object
A Browser Helper Object (BHO) is a DLL module designed as a plugin for Internet Explorer 4.0, and provides added functionality. Most BHOs are loaded once by each new instance of Internet Explorer.
Others
Internet Explorer 4 is one of the earliest browsers to support UCS-2 and UTF-8.
System requirements
<!-- Image with inadequate rationale removed: right|thumb|IE4 featured shell integration with [[Windows Explorer]] -->
Adoption capability overview
IE4 supported 68k Macs, although this was dropped in Internet Explorer 4.5.
Windows
For Windows, 16MB of RAM, 11MB of disk space (minimum for install).
Mac
System Requirements for initial release of 4.0 for Mac:
- Macintosh with 68030 or higher processor
- System 7.1 or higher
- 8 MB of RAM with virtual memory on (12 MB recommended)
- 12 MB of hard disk space for IE4 and 8.5 MB of hard disk space for Java VM.
- Open Transport 1.1.1 or higher or MacTCP 2.0.6 or, Config PPP or similar PPP connection software (Control Panel) with PPP (Extension). Internet Explorer 4 supported 40-bit and later 128-bit encryption through an add-on, using Server Gated Cryptography (SGC). A 256-bit encryption would not become available in IE for nearly 10 years.
128-bit encryption was available or included for these versions:
|-
| 4.0 Beta 1
| style="white-space: nowrap;" | April 1997
| Improved support of CSS and Microsoft DOM.
|
| 4.71.544
|-
| 4.0 Beta 2
| style="white-space: nowrap;" | July 1997
| Improved support of HTML and CSS.
|
| 4.71.1008.3
|-
| 4.0
| style="white-space: nowrap;" | September 22, 1997
| Final release
| Windows 95 OSR 2.5
| 4.71.1712.6
|-
| 4.01
| style="white-space: nowrap;" | November 18, 1997
| Bug fix release.
| Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition
| 4.72.2106.8
|-
| 4.01 SP1
| May 15, 1998
| Vulnerability patch.
| Windows 98
| 4.72.3110.8
|-
| 4.01 SP2
| March 16, 1999
| Vulnerability patch.
|
| 4.72.3612.1713
|-
|}
Comparison of features across platforms
<!-- The source's table did not list Unix-->
{|class="wikitable sortable" border="1"
|+Table of features across platforms
! Feature
! Windows 95, NT 4.0, 98
! Windows 3.1x, NT 3.51
! Mac OS
! Unix
|-
| Active Desktop||||||||
|-
| Autocomplete||||||||
|-
| Active Channel||||||||
|-
| Microsoft Chat 2.x||||||||
|-
| Dynamic HTML||||||||
|-
| DirectX||||||||
|-
| Explorer bars||||||||
|-
| FrontPage Express||||||||
|-
| Internet Connection||||||||
|-
| Internet Mail and News||||||||
|-
| JavaScript||||||||
|-
| NetMeeting||||||||
|-
| NetShow||||||||
|-
| Outlook Express||||||||
|-
| Personal Web Server||||||||
|-
| RealAudio||||||||
|-
| Security Zones||||||||
|-
| Shockwave||||||||
|-
| TrueType Fonts||||||||
|-
| Wallet||||||||
|-
| Web Publishing Wizard||||||||
|-
|colspan="5" style="text-align:center;"|
|}
See also
- History of the Internet
- United States v. Microsoft Corp.
- Comparison of web browsers
- Timeline of web browsers
Further reading
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