It was circa 2002 (introduction of Firefox).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_wars#/media/File:Brows...
Maybe you should have done some research before throwing out all that seething condescension?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_wars#/media/File:Bro...
This later graph (from the same Wiki article) covers 2009-2022, and is much more telling: once Chrome launches, it overtakes Firefox in two years, and then IE in another year. By the time Firefox manages to overtake IE, it’s fighting for third and has only ~15% market share.
Today, Chrome has ~66% market share, and it’s somewhat clear that the remaining 34% of non-Chrome traffic is mostly iOS/Safari. Apple is absolutely being anti-competitive, but that anti-competitive position is the only thing blocking Google from taking control of client and forcing a browser monoculture.
Obviously the person who made this comment was unaware of Firefox single handedly kickstarting the new browser wars (and the removal of IE as the only option).
I made no comment about what came later.
Firefox presented not only a viable alternative, but was a demonstrably better browser. According to this site [0] Firefox peaked at 47.5% (vs IE 40.2%).
That is reversing a browser monopoly. Period.
[0] https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/the-rise-and-fall-of-pop...