Microsoft will end support for Internet Explorer
Starting Wednesday, Microsoft will end support for the once-dominant browser that legions of netizens loved to hate, and some still claim to adore. The 27-year-old app now joins BlackBerry phones, dial-up modems and Palm Pilots in the dustbin of technology history.
The browser output was no surprise. A year ago, Microsoft announced that it would end Internet Explorer on June 15, 2022, directing its users to move to its Edge browser, which was released in 2015.
The company made it clear back then that it was time to move on.
“Not only does Microsoft Edge provide a faster, more secure, and more modern browsing experience than Internet Explorer, but it also addresses a key concern: compatibility with older, legacy websites and apps,” wrote Sean Lyndersay, CEO. of Microsoft Edge Enterprise, in a May 2021 post.
Twitter users commemorated the death of Explorer, some referring to it as “unsafe and full of bugs” or the “best browser to install other browsers.” For others it was time to post memes from the 1990s, while The Wall Street Journal quoted a 22-year-old who was saddened by the disappearance of the search engine.
Microsoft released the first version of Internet Explorer in 1995
In the antediluvian era of web browsing dominated by the first widely popular browser, Netscape Navigator. Its release marked the beginning of the end for Navigator: Microsoft tied IE to its ubiquitous Windows operating system so tightly that many people simply defaulted to it instead of Navigator.
The Justice Department sued Microsoft in 1997, alleging that it had violated an earlier consent decree by requiring computer manufacturers to use its browser as a condition of using Windows. The company finally agreed in 2002 to settle an antitrust battle over using Windows to crush competitors. It also clashed with European regulators, who said tying Internet Explorer to Windows gave it an unfair advantage over rivals such as Mozilla’s Firefox, Opera and Google’s Chrome.
For their part, users complained that Internet Explorer was slow, prone to clutter and vulnerable to hacking. IE’s market share, which in the early 2000s exceeded 90%, began to disappear as users found more attractive alternatives.
Today, the Chrome browser dominates with a roughly 65% share of the global browser market, followed by Apple’s Safari with 19%, according to Internet analytics firm Statcounter. Internet Explorer’s heir, Edge, is relegated to 4%, just ahead of Firefox.