After more than 25 years, Microsoft has finally decided to pull the plug on its longstanding browser Internet Explorer (IE) as it encourages users to shift to Microsoft Edge instead. Internet Explorer has been largely unused by most users over the years and will be retired by the company in June 2022.
"With Microsoft Edge capable of assuming this responsibility and more, the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application will be retired and go out of support on June 15, 2022, for certain versions of Windows 10," the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
Launched in 1995, Internet Explorer was once the most widely used web browser, attaining a peak of about 95 per cent usage share by 2003. After the launch of Firefox in 2004 and Google Chrome in 2008, the browser started to lose its userbase. The final nail in the coffin was the growing popularity of mobile operating systems like Android and iOS, which do not support Internet Explorer.
If you're an organisation using Internet Explorer, you may have a large set of legacy Internet Explorer-based websites and apps, built up over many years.
"By moving to Microsoft Edge, you will be able to extend the life of your legacy websites and apps well beyond the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application retirement date using IE mode. Internet Explorer mode in Microsoft Edge will be supported through at least 2029," the company informed.
The alternative for most businesses will be Microsoft Edge with IE mode. Microsoft created its IE mode for Edge a couple of years ago, and it has allowed businesses to
Ever since the launch of Microsoft Edge in 2015, the company has labelled Internet Explorer a "compatibility solution" rather than a browser and encouraged businesses to stop using the ageing browser in favour of Edge and its IE mode.
The end of Internet Explorer has been a long time coming. Microsoft ended support for Internet Explorer 11 for the Microsoft Teams web app last year, and it is planning to cut it off from accessing Microsoft 365 services later this year.
