1669
When a real user uses the app
(lemmy.ml)
Post funny things about programming here! (Or just rant about your favourite programming language.)
It was an actual icon:
(found the image here https://mastodon.social/@benjedwards/11031604817437112)
I don't remember what it did though. I think it wasn't the browser, and I have a vague memory it wasn't for dial up either, but my memory's shit so I personally wouldn't trust me on that
Edit: had to look this up, it was IE. I think I didn't remember it because I never really used IE since I started off with NCSA Mosaic and then Netscape
It was Internet Explorer. But, what was probably confusing about it was that anything that required Internet access would start up the program that dialed the modem and connected to the Internet. So, clicking on the icon would eventually launch the browser, but first it would launch the dial-up program, which would take about 30s to connect.
As an aside, it really grates to see how Microsoft called their browser "The Internet". And that's the least dastardly thing they did that let them use their monopoly on operating systems to destroy Netscape.