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Imagine asking a friend what internet browser they used and their reply was, “oh I use Ultron from Microsoft.” In a Reddit AMA (ask me anything) session today, the Internet Explorer team revealed a few important tidbits, including the fact that Microsoft once considered rebranding the browser.
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“It’s been suggested internally; I remember a particularly long email thread where numerous people were passionately debating it. Plenty of ideas get kicked around about how we can separate ourselves from negative perceptions that no longer reflect our product today,” the Internet Explorer team answered when asked if Microsoft would ever consider rebranding and changing the name of Internet Explorer.
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When asked why Microsoft decided to stick with the Internet Explorer brand name, the team didn’t give a direct answer but revealed that the idea of a rebranding was a recent idea. “The discussion I recall seeing was a very recent one (just a few weeks ago). Who knows what the future holds :)”
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So if Microsoft did rebrand Internet Explorer with a new name to help avoid the negative stigma that has been forever stamped on the browser name, what would Microsoft call it? “We briefly considered Ultron, but the lawyers said no,” the team replied. Internet Explorer may be dominating when it comes to browser market share, the name “Internet Explorer” has always been seen as something negative.
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When asked what the biggest feature of Internet Explorer that is often overlooked, the team responded by touting the F12 Dev Tools. “I love seeing developer expressions when they realize how feature-rich the F12 Developer Tools are. The tools team is putting a lot of effort in improving and innovating in the browser tools space and it’s great when developers experience them.”
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When asked if Microsoft would ever conform to existing web standards, this is what the team had to say: “This is something we’ve been actively doing for some time now. Each successive release of Internet Explorer has seen more and more adoption of existing web-standards. Our team actively works with Google, Apple, and Mozilla (among others) on developing new standards for driving the web forward. As an example, just about a month ago we found ourselves having a discussion about response media – after a few minutes we decided to reach out to Google for some joint-discussion.”
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You can read the entire AMA via the link below. Do you think Microsoft should rebrand Internet Explorer? What should Microsoft call it?
\n\nFurther reading: Internet Explorer, Microsoft, Ultron