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MICROSOFT HAS OFFICIALLY sent Internet Explorer into retirement.
As of Wednesday, Microsoft will no longer support the once-dominant browser that legions of web surfers loved to hate – and a few still claim to adore.
The 27-year-old application now joins BlackBerry phones, dial-up modems and Palm Pilots in the rubbish bin of tech history.
Its demise was not a surprise. A year ago, Microsoft said that it was putting an end to Internet Explorer (IE) on June 15 2022, pushing users to its Edge browser, which was launched in 2015.
The company made clear then it was time to move on.
“Not only is Microsoft Edge a faster, more secure and more modern browsing experience than Internet Explorer, but it is also able to address a key concern: compatibility for older, legacy websites and applications,” said Sean Lyndersay, general manager of Microsoft Edge Enterprise, in a May 2021 blog post.
Users marked IE’s passing on Twitter, with some referring to it as “bug-ridden” or the “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 who was sad to see IE go.
Microsoft released the first version of Internet Explorer in 1995, the era of web surfing dominated by the first widely popular browser, Netscape Navigator.
Its launch signalled the beginning of the end of Navigator: Microsoft went on to tie IE and its ubiquitous Windows operating system together so tightly that many people simply used it by default instead of Navigator.
The Justice Department sued Microsoft in 1997, saying it violated an earlier consent decree by requiring computer makers to use its browser as a condition of using Windows.
It eventually agreed to settle the antitrust battle in 2002 over its use of its Windows monopoly to squash competitors. It also tangled with European regulators who said that tying Internet Explorer to Windows gave it an unfair advantage over rivals such as Mozilla’s Firefox, Opera and Google’s Chrome.
Users, meanwhile, complained that IE was slow, prone to crashing and vulnerable to hacks. IE’s market share, which in the early 2000s was more than 90%, began to fade as users found more appealing alternatives.
Today, the Chrome browser dominates with roughly a 65% share of the worldwide browser market, followed by Apple’s Safari with 19%, according to internet analytics company Statcounter. IE’s heir, Edge, lags behind with about 4%, just ahead of Firefox.
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In all fairness to internet explorer, it was great at downloading other browsers
@Graham Purtell: and pictures of compromised Doughnuts
@Graham Purtell: you’ve been on the Twitter machine Graham I’m assuming?!
@Joe Kennedy: No, it literally says it in the article pfff
@Stuart Birney: Read it again my man! You must have missed it!
I’d be very surprised if there are no Irish government or banking applications that only run on Internet Explorer.
@Genera L Consensus: 100% correct. These government departments are now scrambling to make their software compatiable with Edge.
@Tomo: And Edge is essentially Chrome under the hood.
Aw Netscape Navigator takes me back! Great memories of trying to puzzle it all out when it appeared first in the mid 90s in our house. Deciding to try dialling in through AOL (American online I think?!) after getting a free CD with a computer mag, to get a better connection, and receiving a 300+ quid bill a few weeks later, much to my parents disgust!! How far we’ve come in such a short time. On a side note, it’ll be a busy few weeks for I.T support now in the H.S.E with Internet Explorer gone I assume?! I guess they can still use Chrome on the Windows 98 devices!!
@Joe Kennedy: “Get off the Internet! I want to use the phone!”
@Joe Kennedy: Edge can be run in ‘IE mode’ (it can emulate Internet Explorer).
@Mick Tobin: that would be like running Cian Lynch in Joe Kennedy mode Mick!
@Mick Tobin: Thanks Mick. And if that doesn’t work, try plugging it out and plugging it back in again
Netscape navigator didn’t die it was made open source and became the Mozilla which is now Firefox. I doubt there is much if any Netscape code left in it, still less the Mosaic code that went into the original Netscape and Internet Explorer.
Mosaic was the first browser to display online images.
A little notice would have been nice.. ;)
@CAMILA REMONA: They gave a years notice. How much more time did you need?
@CAMILA REMONA: was 365 days notice not enough for you?
@PeterC: I haven’t started up my laptop in about 4 years… A phone call would have been nice is that too much to ask … Instead they ring me up to tell me I’ve a virus on it… At least they said they would fix it for me once they had my proof of identity and credit card number…
@Patrick Short: clearly not… if this is the first I’ve heard of it…next thing they’ll probably do something crazy and shut down bebo or myspace … Nothing would surprise me at all this stage
@CAMILA REMONA: Sure, Shame on them for not ringing every user in the world.
@PeterC: I really believe if they cared enough about me they would …€20 payg with Vodafone gets unlimited calls these days…I’d have rang them if I was planning on downloading a rival browser… I just feel they could have handled it better.. anyways I’m off down to the ulster bank branch to see if I can pay a little extra off my loan this month ..at least I know they care …
I really believe if they cared enough about me they would …€20 payg with Vodafone gets unlimited calls these days..l’d have rang them if was planning on downloadinga rival browser… just feel they could have handled it better.. anyways I’m off down to the anglo Irish bank branch to see if can pay a little extra off my loan this month haven’t heard from them in a while .. but at least know they care
What a shame they can’t retire Windows with it…
Microsoft now makes it virtually impossible to use any browser other than Edge on Windows. Yes, you can install Firefox and run it, no matter how often you make it the default browser, it seems to revert to Edge within a few days. Nothing against Edge but I have always preferred Firefox. Maybe the US Dept Justice need to have another look
@Mark: I use Firefox on Windows and have for many years..dunno what you are on about.
@Mark: Virtually impossible? Right yea…
A lot of my work sites/applications only work on Internet explorer and not edge so the next few weeks will be fun!
@Vlad Eire: you need yo enable IE mode in edge and then add those specific URLs so they always open in IE mode.
VVanks for the memories.
Is Chrome no longer the memory hog it once was?
@Billybutcher: Unless you are still using 4GB of RAM chrome isn’t an issue, in reality people should have 8GB at a minimum, 16GB and beyond preferable.
@Pete Gilmartin: As a student in 1978 I stood beside the first megabyte of memory I ever saw. The box was taller than me, the price was eye watering by University department standards and they had *two* of them!
About 20 years after I did…
To the metaverse and beyond…….
I use AXplorer and get compensated for it
Firefox forever.
In addition to IE, can we all please take a minute to remember Netscape? RIP. And what ever happened to Net2phone? 80s baby here!
@Thomas Featherstone: Remember netscape? What are you talking about? It still exists today as firefox.
Use AXplorer and get compensated for it with axiacoins
edge is just as rubb1sh as IE but looks better. many things don’t work in edge but do in chrome
have your say