It is amazing how something that
was so ubiquitous only a decade and more before, can now be so irrelevant and
even actively disliked now. When Microsoft included its own browser, Internet
Explorer, on Windows 95, it grew to become almost the only net browser any
computer user would use. But even as government regulators accused Microsoft of
unfair practice, the computing giant abruptly stopped hyping IE since its sixth
version, letting other browsers rise to prominence such as Mozilla Firefox and
then Google Chrome. Internet Explorer (latest version 11) is still around
however, but Microsoft is starting to put the fossil browser to rest.
Forbes reports that this week, Microsoft has announced a gradual
removal of support for its various suites of program applications with their
old and doddering online browser, Internet Explorer. There are two significant
milestones covered. First, IE support for Microsoft’s “Teams” workplace chat
app will be discontinued effective this coming November 30. Second, by August
17, 2021 next year the subscription service software product line Microsoft 365
(a superset of the original Office 365 with licenses for Windows 10 Enterprise
edition) will drop all functions of compatibility with Internet Explorer.
IE is not the only Microsoft
browser that is now being vigorously phased out. There is also Microsoft Edge,
or rather the original Edge browser that debuted with the release of Windows 10
in 2015. This was originally hoped to be the best chance Microsoft had at
beating current top web browser Chrome, but was too unwieldy for several
websites and was replaced in 2019 by a new version based on Google’s
open-source Chromium browser development software. Now, the original Edge will
be cut off from regular security updates, which keeps it secure from viruses
and online malware, by Microsoft starting March 9 of 2021.
But for Microsoft Internet
Explorer, the support cutoffs are the last nails in a coffin to end its history
as the one-time “only web browser being used” to surf the internet, ever since
its highest point back in 2002 where 95% of net surfers used IE over other
browsers. The drop in enthusiasm for further developing Internet Explorer since
IE6 gave other net companies the opening to make themselves the new way to
surf. Add to the fact that IE tended not to support software extensions like
Chrome and Firefox, and does not have a mobile app version, contributed to its
quiet fall from grace.
The current Microsoft Edge
browser, built on the same source code as Chrome, is still only in second place
behind Google’s killer app in terms of usage. But that is already better
compared to IE.
Image courtesy of The Verge
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