Is Microsoft's WebBrowser Object the same as IE ?

Hi there,

In VB.NET, is Microsoft's WebBrowser Object the same as IE ?  

The object is listed as type "AxSHDocVw.AxWebBrowser".

In this article from VB5 http://www.microsoft.com/mind/0898/dom.aspunder the section Accessing the Document Object Model second bullet point  states that it is.  I know it might be old info.  That's why I'm asking.

I would like to know if that object has the same functionality as IE in processing things like cookies, https, etc.  Will it do anything that IE can do ?  Or are there things that it cannot do that IE will ?  I cannot imagine it being the other way around where the web browser object can do more than IE.

Can anyone explain the differences between IE and this object (or point me in the right direction) ?

Thanks,

John