MICROSOFT ENDS SUPPORT FOR INTERNET EXPLORER IN WINDOWS 10

Thu 16 June 2022:

On Wednesday, Microsoft ended supporting the Internet Explorer web browser, signaling the end of an era for a 26-year-old brand.

Tech giant Microsoft will no longer support Internet Explorer (IE) in Windows 10, as earlier announced.

According to Engadget, users will still receive IE 11 support if they are using Windows Server 2022 or an earlier OS release with a long-term service extension, but this marks the effective end of software updates for most people.

Windows 11 does not include an IE desktop app, the report said.

The Edge browser’s IE Mode will still receive support through 2029 or later, so users won’t be stuck if they just need compatibility with the older web engine.

The company will “progressively” redirect users from IE to Edge in the next few months, and will permanently disable the old software through a Windows update, as per the report.

Last year, Microsoft announced that it will retire its iconic Internet Explorer browser in June 2022, as it envisions the future of Internet Explorer, which was launched in 1995, on Windows 10 in Microsoft Edge.

Over the last year, Microsoft is moving away from Internet Explorer support, such as an announcement of the end of IE support by Microsoft 365 online services.

A brief history of Internet Explorer

In 1995, the web quickly became a high priority for Microsoft. Then-Microsoft CEO Bill Gates declared in a memo that web developments “will set the course of our industry for a long time to come.” Microsoft bundled Internet Explorer in the Windows 95 operating system free of charge. It quickly took hold.

Internet Explorer took a commanding lead in browser market share thanks to its inclusion in Windows, the world’s most widely used PC operating system. The strategy helped Microsoft undercut the then up-and-coming Netscape Communications’ Navigator browser.

When the U.S. Justice Department filed its landmark antitrust case against Microsoft in 1998, the federal agency described the bundling of Internet Explorer in Windows 95 as an “illegal tie-in.” The company changed the terms of its agreements with device makers to allow them to remove icons for the browser from Windows if they want to show off other browsers.

Other issues hurt the reputation of Internet Explorer, too. A security expert said in 2004 that it was “foolish” to use the browser. The Washington Post published an article under the headline “Internet Explorer Unsafe for 284 Days in 2006.” In 2014, following the disclosure of one flaw, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said that those who can’t follow Microsoft’s advice for mitigation ought to consider using another browser.

Internet Explorer didn’t always deliver the best performance. The speed of Chrome particularly impressed observers when it appeared in 2008. That was by design. When Google came up with the values for Chrome, it chose three S’s: speed, stability and security, said Aaron Boodman, a former Chrome engineering manager.

The performance difference with Internet Explorer is clear to this day. Its handling of the widely used HTML5 markup language can’t keep up with Chrome, Edge or Apple’s Safari.

Digital preferences changed over a quarter-century. The smartphone became a companion for billions of people, and in 2012 Google won the upper hand in the browser wars with Chrome.

In 2020, Microsoft released a new version of Edge that relies on Chromium, the open-source project behind Google’s Chrome browser, and it came with Internet Explorer mode, enabling enterprise workers to access websites designed for the Internet Explorer in Edge. Last year, Microsoft advised consumers to move from Internet Explorer to Edge. Now the company is further diminishing the presence of its original browser.

Now Microsoft wants to make sure the people who are still using Internet Explorer will move to Edge, which holds about 4% share, according to data from privately held StatCounter. The company will move favorites, passwords and settings from Internet Explorer into Edge, Lyndersay wrote. Edge is, he said, “the best browser for Windows.”

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