Microsoft has debated name change of Internet Explorer due to ‘negative perceptions’
“Negative perceptions” around Internet Explorer has led to Microsoft considering a name change in the past, the company has revealed, with suggestions that a rebrand may still be coming.
Speaking in a Reddit question and answer session, Microsoft engineer Jonathan Sampson admitted that change has been discussed following user asianorange asking the team if a rebrand had ever been on the cards.
Sampson replied: “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.”
He added: “The discussion I recall seeing was a very recent one (just a few weeks ago). Who knows what the future holds.”
Sampson suggests that for most people the decision to not use Internet Explorer “is largely based on experiences from a decade ago, and a much different IE.”
Asked how Microsoft felt about the fact that most of the people reading the Ask me Anything (AMA) discussion on Reddit would not be using Internet Explorer, employee Anton Molleda quipped “challenged!”