To start off a new year and market its new browser, Microsoft
is stepping into the past with a new video, titled “Child of the 90s,” that chases after the now-grown Generation Y.

In a Wednesday blog post(Opens in a new window), Roger Capriotti, director of IE marketing, touted the gains made by Internet Explorer in 2012, from performance to market share.

“Which is why we thought it was time to invite those of you who haven’t thought about Internet Explorer in a while to take a trip down memory lane,” Capriotti said. “Internet Explorer is a child of the 90s, but we have done some serious growing up.”

Since its debut in 1995, Internet Explorer has remained the most popular browser, but options like Mozilla’s Firefox, Apple’s Safari, and Google’s Chrome have chipped away slightly at IE’s dominance. Microsoft now hopes to reel them back in with IE10.

The new ad features some of the most iconic toys, utilities, games, and fashion of the ’90s; half of the fun of watching is testing your own pop culture knowledge as each accessory, food, and piece of technology flashes across the screen.

Quiz yourself by watching the video advertisement below. (As a child of the ’90s, I counted 19 nostalgic memories in the 1:40 commercial, including the one pictured above.)

“You grew up. So did we,” the ad concludes.

Redmond seems to be stuck in the past recently in its attempt to push IE into the future. The company’s last marketing campaign poked fun at itself and its Internet haters.

The commercial featured a stereotypical Web troll scouring the Internet for any opportunity to dismiss Microsoft’s IE browser. The hater comes around, eventually posting a message that said, “IE sucks … less.”

IE10 was released with Windows 8, and a test version for Windows 7 debuted in November. The revamped browser provides what the company touted as an entirely new experience, complete with new touch-first browsing, full-screen UI, and security and performance improvements.

For more, see PCMag’s review of IE10 and the slideshow above. And visit TheBrowserYouLovedToHate.com(Opens in a new window) for more IE10-related videos, GIFS, and more.

For more from Stephanie, follow her on Twitter @smlotPCMag(Opens in a new window).