Microsoft internally debated rebranding Internet Explorer

It may be the most popular browser in the world, but even some at Microsoft still hate Internet Explorer.

The name, that is. According to an "Ask Me Anything" session on Reddit, members of the Internet Explorer development team debated renaming the venerable browser, presumably in an effort to eliminate any distaste from the software's earliest days.

"It's been suggested internally; I remember a particularly long email thread where numerous people were passionately debating it," Microsoft's Jonathan Sampson, wrote. "Plenty of ideas get kicked around about how we can separate ourselves from negative perceptions that no longer reflect our product today."

"The discussion I recall seeing was a very recent one (just a few weeks ago)," Sampson added. "Who knows what the future holds :)"

For the last few years, Microsoft has tried to separate the modern version of Internet Explorer from its legacy: a relatively slow, insecure browser saddled with proprietary features.

According to Net Applications, Internet Explorer as a whole commanded 58.01 percent of the desktop browser market, a level that it has maintained for several years. The problem is that most popular browser version, period, is IE8, at 21.56 percent. IE8 was the default browser that shipped with Windows 7, although Microsoft has shipped a version of IE11, its most recent release, for that OS.

:story: PCWorld