American multinational corporation Microsoft announced that it will be pulling the plug on its 25-year old web browser – Internet Explorer. Microsoft will officially end an end to the desktop application on June 15th 2022. However, the corporation also said Microsoft 365 will end support for the IE web browser by August 17th 2021. 

For many of the 90s kids that had a dial-up connection at home, IE was the dominant browser to access the worldwide web. Though there were other options like Opera and Netscape, Internet Explorer was successful in taking over the market. Though there might not be many people who still use the web browser, it still feels like the end of an era. 

Microsoft Edge to replace Internet Explorer

Partner Group Program Manager for Microsoft Edge at Microsoft, Sean Lyndersay said that Microsoft Edge is the future of Internet Explorer on Windows 10. The Internet Explorer 11 desktop app will be retiring and will go out of support by June 15th 2022 for certain versions of Windows 10, he added.

For Edge being the replacement, the company cites improved compatibility, streamlined productivity and better browser security as key reasons.

For ensuring a smooth transition from Internet Explorer to Microsoft Edge, Microsoft created the IE mode for Edge just a few months ago. The mode will allow a smooth transition for enterprises and help them in adopting the new Chromium-based browser. 

Microsoft also promises to support the Internet Explorer mode in Microsoft Edge browser till the year 2029. In an official statement, the company said that the retiring browser’s mode support follows the lifecycle of Windows client, Server, and IoT releases at least through 2029.

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The end of the Internet Explorer

The Internet Explorer’s end of life has been coming for a long time. The company ended support for IE 11 for the Microsoft Teams web app in 2020. It now plans to cut it off from accessing Microsoft 365 services later in 2021. 

Internet Explorer 11 will no longer be supported for the online services of Microsoft, such as OneDrive, Office 365, Outlook, etc. on August 17th 2021. Microsoft Corporation has been trying to stop people from using their 25+ year old webs browser for more than 5 years now. 

Microsoft’s Chromium-based web browser Edge first appeared in the year 2015 and it surely kicked off the end of the Internet Explorer brand. Since then, Microsoft has labeled Internet Explorer a ‘compatibility solution’ instead of a web browser and encourages enterprises to stop using IE and favors the use of Microsoft Edge and its IE mode.

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