Back in the day IE always had an 'advantage' purely by the name: 'Internet Explorer'.

When people 'got a computer' to 'get on the internet', seeing that icon on the desktop got them where the thought they needed to be.

Very, very few people, even years after after Chrome and Firefox came out, even knew they had a choice over the (browser) matter of getting 'on the web'. (There are some classic videos out there of voxpops of people being asked about 'the web' and 'the internet' etc.)

(To begin with, for me, it was Spry Mosaic then Netscape from about '93.)