Microsoft Retires Internet Explorer After 27 Years—Your Switch to Edge Is Inevitable!

For some time, Microsoft's Internet Explorer has been synonymous with sluggishness and being out-of-date. Explore the Internet enough, and brace yourself for a sea of IE memes. Will the memes end with the browser shutting down?

End of Internet Explorer

Microsoft is officially retiring its old pride, the Internet Explorer (IE) browser, marking the end of a 27-year-old era in the history of the Internet.

On Valentine's Day, the tech giant announced the shutdown, which will permanently disable the desktop version of Internet Explorer on certain versions of Windows 10.

The once-popular browser was plagued with poor performance and security vulnerabilities and had been overtaken by competitors such as Google Chrome, which now commands over 60% of the browser market share (per StatCounter).

Microsoft is now putting more effort into its Edge browser, which is faster and has better security features.

While Internet Explorer remains on millions of Windows computers worldwide, reports tell us that Microsoft has begun automatically removing the browser from users' computers.

The company has released a software update for the Edge browser that permanently disables Internet Explorer 11 on any Windows computer that still has it installed - a year after it first announced the shutdown.

While some Internet Explorer components, such as icons and shortcuts, will stay on desktops until a Windows update later this year eliminates them, Microsoft has sought to keep some basic Internet Explorer compatibility features within the Edge browser until 2029.

It is reasonable that Microsoft is providing long-term assistance to help consumers move to the Edge browser. Nonetheless, it is evident that Internet Explorer's retirement is long overdue. Microsoft must continue to innovate and improve the Edge browser to keep up in the browser market.

Switch to Edge Instead?

Following this change, the tech giant encourages people to switch to the Edge browser. Microsoft's Edge browser is based on the same technology as Google's Chrome browser and is said to have better performance and security features.

The browser's speed is touted as the same as other browsers. But Edge does not work well with some sites, and its ecosystem of extensions is still small compared to browsers that have been around longer.

What Interner Explorer Will Be Remembered For

Short answer: for bugs, insecure POS, and its slowness.

On Twitter, users have posted some further rants and stories under the #InternetExplorer hashtag.

For one, Wired tells us that Microsoft's overbearing approach to integrating Internet Explorer into every aspect of Windows led to a federal antitrust suit against the company in 1998. So, the forced removal of the software is a good way to bring a long cycle to a close, says the news outlet.

The decision to terminate support for Internet Explorer was partly influenced by the industry's lightning-fast pace of innovation, in which technologies can quickly become obsolete. However, one cannot rule out the possibility that the browser was inherently flawed from the outset.

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