It’s Time To Say Goodbye: Microsoft Kills Internet Explorer after 26 Years of Reign

Image: Computerworld

Sadly on Wednesday, 15th June 2022, Microsoft is pulling the plug on Internet Explorer. This move will see the browser’s end after 26 years of existence. Once users try using the browser, they will be directed to the Edge browser. Edge has outperformed Internet Explorer, which is associated with such issues as security flaws, lagging performance, and the antitrust case, among others.

Edge, the Explorer’s replacement, is defaulted to Microsoft Bing’s search engine, which generates advertising revenue for the tech giant. Almost $3 billion was generated in the first quarter of this year, representing 6% of the company’s total income. Hence from Wednesday, Microsoft will halt all technical support or security updates to Internet Explorer’s users; all focus would now go to Edge.

Edge is available on different mobile devices, Mac and Linux, as against Explorer, which was restricted to Windows only. You would recall that Edge was released in 2015 by Microsoft as part of Windows 10. Both browsers were allowed to co-exist on the system.

Despite all the negatives, do you know that Internet Explorer has its fan base? Yes, there is some group of users that have been using the browser since and would not let go. One reason is that the browser happens to be the only way to reach certain corporate web applications. Therefore, the browser would not disappear into oblivion now that it’s being shut down.

What next?

As we advance for the next few months, if you launch your Internet Explorer on your system, you would be automatically be redirected to Microsoft Edge with IE mode. The Explorer icon would still be available on your device but would not open Internet Explorer but Microsoft Edge. However, since the company would stop supporting the browser on future updates, the company would eventually remove it from your device.

The shutdown of Internet Explorer is not something that should shock users because the plan has been on the ground before when Edge came in. Edge was to co-exist with Internet Explorer so that gradually Internet Explorer would be removed. Also, remember that last year, the company advised users to migrate from Internet Explorer to Edge. We all knew that Internet Explorer had breathed its last byte when that announcement came.

Edge, according to Lyndersay of Microsoft, is the best browser for Windows. Hence the company is making all moves to ensure users who are still devoted to Explorer migrate to Edge. Microsoft will move favorites, passwords and settings from Explorer into Edge to make the switch seamless for users.

Source

#Tech

#Microsoft

#Internet Explorer

#Microsoft Edge