<P> Microsoft Internet Explorer 5, launched on 18 March 1999, and subsequently included with Windows 98 Second Edition and bundled with Office 2000, was another significant release that supported bi-directional text, ruby characters, XML, XSLT, and the ability to save web pages in MHTML format . IE5 was bundled with Outlook Express 5 . Also, with the release of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0, Microsoft released the first version of XMLHttpRequest, giving birth to Ajax (even though the term "Ajax" was not coined until years later). It was the last with a 16 - bit version . Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01, a bug fix version included in Windows 2000, was released in December 1999 . Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 followed in July 2000, improving its print preview capabilities, CSS and HTML standards support, and developer APIs; this version was bundled with Windows ME . However, version 5 was the last version for Mac and UNIX . Version 5.5 was the last to have Compatibility Mode, which allowed Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 to be run side by side with the 5. x . The IE team consisted of over 1,000 people by 1999, with funding on the order of US $100 million per year . </P> <P> Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 was released on 27 August 2001, a few months before Windows XP . This version included DHTML enhancements, content restricted inline frames, and partial support of CSS level 1, DOM level 1, and SMIL 2.0 . The MSXML engine was also updated to version 3.0 . Other new features included a new version of the Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK), Media bar, Windows Messenger integration, fault collection, automatic image resizing, P3P, and a new look - and - feel that was in line with the Luna visual style of Windows XP, when used in Windows XP . Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 offered several security enhancements and coincided with the Windows XP SP1 patch release . In 2002, the Gopher protocol was disabled, and support for it was dropped in Internet Explorer 7 . Internet Explorer 6.0 SV1 came out on 6 August 2004 for Windows XP SP2 and offered various security enhancements and new colour buttons on the user interface . Internet Explorer 6 updated the original' blue e' logo to a lighter blue and more 3D look . Microsoft now considers IE6 to be an obsolete product and recommends that users upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 . Some corporate IT users have not upgraded despite this, in part because some still use Windows 2000, which will not run Internet Explorer 7 or above . Microsoft has launched a website, http://ie6countdown.com/, with the goal of getting Internet Explorer 6 usage to drop below 1 percent worldwide . Its usage is 6% globally as of October 2012, and now about 6.3% since June 2013, and depending on the country, the usage differs heavily: while the usage in Norway is 0.1%, it is 21.3% in the People's Republic of China . On 3 January 2012, Microsoft announced that usage of IE6 in the United States had dropped below 1% . </P> <P> Windows Internet Explorer 7 was released on 18 October 2006 . It includes bug fixes, enhancements to its support for web standards, tabbed browsing with tab preview and management, a multiple - engine search box, a web feeds reader, Internationalized Domain Name support (IDN), Extended Validation Certificate support, and an anti-phishing filter . With IE7, Internet Explorer has been decoupled from the Windows Shell--unlike previous versions, the Internet Explorer ActiveX control is not hosted in the Windows Explorer process, but rather runs in a separate Internet Explorer process . It is included with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, and is available for Windows XP Service Pack 2 and later, and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and later . The original release of Internet Explorer 7 required the computer to pass a Windows Genuine Advantage validation check prior to installing, but on October 5, 2007, Microsoft removed this requirement . As some statistics show, by mid-2008, Internet Explorer 7 market share exceeded that of Internet Explorer 6 in a number of regions . </P> <P> For newer versions see: Internet Explorer . </P>

What version of ie shipped with windows 7