Beginning today, June 15th, Wednesday, Microsoft will no longer support Internet Explorer, the once dominant web browser that legions of web surfers loved to hate and some still claim to love.
The demise of Internet Explorer came as no surprise. A year ago, Microsoft said it would end Internet Explorer on June 15, 2022, pushing users to its Edge browser, launched in 2015.
is internet explorer ever really dead? pic.twitter.com/KQGndprUxn
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) June 14, 2022
The company made it clear at the time that it was time to move on.
“Microsoft Edge not only offers a faster, safer, and more modern browsing experience than Internet Explorer, but is also able to address a key concern: compatibility with older, outdated websites and applications,” said Sean Lyndersay, general manager of Microsoft Edge Enterprise , she wrote in a May 2021 blog post.
Users flagged Explorer’s sharing on Twitter, with some calling it “bug-ridden” or a “top browser for installing other browsers.” For others, it was a moment for ’90s nostalgia memes, while The Wall Street Journal quoted a 22-year-old as sad that IE had to go.
Microsoft released the first version of Internet Explorer in 1995, ushering in a new era of mass browsing, previously dominated by the first mainstream browser, Netscape Navigator.
Internet Explorer is a browser that has been included with Windows since Windows 95 (1995). Originally based on Spyglass’ Mosaic, it had a 95% browser market share in 2003. Later, with new competitors like Chrome, its use declined. The final version 11 will end support on June 15, 2022. pic.twitter.com/bDXwSohqwH
— Windows on Windows (@wowstartsnow) June 14, 2022
Its release marked the beginning of the end of Navigator: Microsoft tied Internet Explorer and its own Windows operating system so tightly together that many people just defaulted to it instead of Navigator. It made it virtually impossible to install Navigator on his systems.
Of course, in 1997, the US Department of Justice sued Microsoft for violating an earlier consent order by requiring computer manufacturers to use its browser as a condition of using Windows.
It eventually agreed to settle the 2002 antitrust dispute over the use of its Windows monopoly to suppress competitors. It has also tangled with European regulators, who said tying Internet Explorer to Windows gave it an unfair advantage over rivals like Mozilla’s Firefox and Opera.
Then came Google Chrome, a browser based on the open-source Chromium browser. As a better and more robust web browser, Chrome has done to Internet Explorer what Microsoft has done to Navigator.
Users complained that Internet Explorer was slow, prone to crashes, and prone to hacks. Internet Explorer’s market share, which exceeded 90% in the early 2000s, began to dwindle as users began looking for more attractive alternatives.
Thanks for the reminder, #Internet Explorer pic.twitter.com/2OH637tjte
– Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) June 13, 2022
Internet Explorer will be retired tomorrow (June 15, 2022).
If you’re still using that browser, you’re bound to get this message sometime in the next 500 years #Internet Explorer pic.twitter.com/jGzkDcBxXg— Mukul Sharma (@stufflistings) June 14, 2022
Microsoft’s #Internet Explorer officially retires after 27 years. pic.twitter.com/08uO17qin0
— nyus (@nyus_app) June 13, 2022
Today, the Chrome browser dominates the browser market with a roughly 65 percent share of the global browser market, followed by Apple’s Safari at 19 percent, according to internet analytics firm Statcounter. Microsoft’s successor Edge is just ahead of Firefox with around 4 percent.
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