> You used to have to buy a physical copy in the store to install it. That is not true. They also made it available to download over the internet free of charg

> You used to have to buy a physical copy in the store to install it. That is not true. They also made it available to download over the internet free of charge (and, as others said, they licensed it to ISPs to distribute to their customers). You were expected to buy a commercial license if you used it for business, though. Practically everyone had a copy of it in 1997 and used it as their primary browser, paid or not, until Microsoft shipped Internet Explorer.