The end of Internet Explorer 8 is coming in the next two years, as Microsoft is aiming to shed some weight and move users over to the latest versions of the browser. The planned date to end support for the browser is Jan. 12, 2016.
With this plan now in the pipeline, it means that Windows 7 and Windows 8 users will have to switch over to Internet Explorer 11, 12, or 13 to keep getting feature and security updates. Still, it's not a sure thing that Internet Explorer versions after 11 will have support for Windows 7 or Windows 8, so users might have to switch over to Windows 9.
"After Jan. 12, 2016, only the most recent version of Internet Explorer available for a supported operating system will receive technical support and security updates. For example, customers using Internet Explorer 8, Internet Explorer 9, or Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 7 SP1 should migrate to Internet Explorer 11 to continue receiving security updates and technical support," stated Microsoft on its blog.
Microsoft would want to be careful on how it attempts to migrate users over to its newest web browser, because a recent report showed that Internet Explorer 8 is used on around 20 percent of all desktop computers, and contributes to 6 percent of all web traffic.
Despite planning to end support for the browser version, users will still have the option to use them if they feel the need to, so it is not a complete loss for those who prefer IE 8, though we see no reason for any sane person consider using these old browsers even after losing security updates.
If you're a fan of Internet Explorer, then we would recommend making plans to switch over to Internet Explorer 11 as soon as possible. It's not that bad, to be honest, not Firefox- or Opera Next-great, but good enough still for most websites.
Version 9 of Internet Explorer will experience reduced support, but only for Vista and Windows Server 2008. On the matter of Internet Explorer version 10, support for this browser will only be for Windows 2012, so yeah, it is high time for an upgrade, ladies and gentlemen.
We have to say, this move is a great one by Microsoft --, it should have been done years ago. It will be interesting to see how long the company keeps IE 11 around after launching the latest version in the near future.
