Trident (also known as MSHTML) is a proprietary browser engine for the Microsoft Windows version of Internet Explorer, developed by Microsoft. MSHTML debuted with the release of Internet Explorer 4 in 1997. For versions 7 and 8 of Internet Explorer, Microsoft made significant changes to MSHTML's layout capabilities to improve compliance with Web standards and add support for new technologies. MSHTML will continue to receive security updates for the IE mode of Microsoft Edge until at least 2029. However, support for new Web standards will not be added. Use in software development MSHTML was designed as a software component to allow software developers to easily add web browsing functionality to their own applications. It presents a COM interface for accessing and editing web pages in any COM-supported environment, like C++ and .NET. For instance, a web browser control can be added to a C++ program and MSHTML can then be used to access the page currently displayed in the web browser and retrieve element values. Events from the web browser control can also be captured. MSHTML functionality becomes available by linking the file to the software project. Release history Use cases All versions of Internet Explorer for Windows from 4.0 onwards use MSHTML, and it is also used by various other web browsers and software components (see Internet Explorer shells). In Windows 98, Windows Me, and Windows 2000, it is also used for the Windows file manager/shell, Windows Explorer. The Add/Remove Programs tool in Windows 2000 uses MSHTML to render the list of installed programs, and in Windows XP it is also used for the User Accounts Control Panel, which is an HTML Application. MSHTML, however, was not used by Internet Explorer for Mac (which used Tasman starting with version 5.0), nor by the early versions of Internet Explorer Mobile. Some other MSHTML-based applications include: AOL Explorer, a web browser AOL Instant Messenger 6.x, which uses MSHTML to render conversation and profile windows, and advertisement panels Avant Browser EA Link, incompatible with MSHTML as of Internet Explorer 7 RC2 Flashpoint Secure Player, uses MSHTML to run ActiveX based web games Google Talk, which used MSHTML to render chat windows and profile cards GreenBrowser, which is also presented at the BrowserChoice.eu page IE Tab, a Firefox and Google Chrome add-on used to render pages with MSHTML within the Firefox or Chrome user interface. Impulse (content delivery), uses MSHTML to render "Explore"