I just finished installing Internet Explorer 7, and noticed something interesting during the installation screens:

Notice anything interesting? I’ll give you a hint, here’s the IE6 home page at Microsoft.com (red rectangle inserted by me):

and here’s the IE7 home page at Microsoft.com (again, red rectangle inserted by me):

That’s right, up until now, Internet Explorer was called “Microsoft Internet Explorer”, meaning “The web browser that is created by Microsoft”. Now, Internet Explorer is called “Windows Internet Explorer”, meaning “The Web browser that belongs with/is intended for Windows”.

Here’s a couple more screen snippets, from the browsers themselves:

IE6, a.k.a. Microsoft Internet Explorer

IE7, a.k.a. Windows Internet Explorer

See the difference? It’s a subtle shift in Microsoft’s strategy in the ongoing browser wars, which I believe is meant to stop the advance of Firefox. For the technically savvy, Firefox will always be an option, but now, for the uninitiated, Firefox won’t look as attractive as “the browser that was meant for Windows”.

Edit: Ok, so I’m a little slow…Wikipedia’s entry on Internet Explorer first notes “Internet Explorer (known as Windows Internet Explorer in Windows Vista)…” on November 24, 2005