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Microsoft first implemented the XMLHttpRequest object in Internet Explorer 5 for Windows as an ActiveX object. Engineers on the Mozilla project implemented a compatible native version for Mozilla 1.0 (and Netscape 7). Apple has done the same starting with Safari 1.2.

Fuente: Apple [apple.com] (es el mismo enlace de antes, pero como parece que cuesta pinchar...).

A solution to these problem presents itself in the form of the XMLHttpRequest object. This object, first implemented by Microsoft as an ActiveX object but now also available as a native object within both Mozilla and Apple's Safari browser, enables JavaScript to make HTTP requests to a remote server without the need to reload the page.

Fuente: O'Reilly [xml.com].

Several years ago, Microsoft invented XMLHttpRequest. People used it, along with JavaScript and XML. Google famously used it in some of their Web pages, for instance GMail. All was well, another day saved... then someone invented a new name for it: Ajax.

Fuente: Ian Hixie [hixie.ch].

¿Suficiente o sigues necesitando el IE para comprobarlo?