They definitely used uncompetitive behavior, but it’s also true that IE was also a better browser than Netscape by the time version 4 rolled out.

That's a different definition than 'out of the gate' covers to me. Besides that, from those days I mostly remember IE as the utility to download another browser after a fresh windows install, and the thing that it was nearly impossible to get rid of. Not through any merit of its own, in spite of many non-standards compliant websites that favored IE.