Microsoft will be retiring its old browser, Internet Explorer on June 15th, 2022. It has been around for over 27 years, and it is time to say goodbye!
The first version of the Internet Explorer was released in 1995 as part of the Windows 95 add-on package and became a significant part of our lives while growing up. Internet Explorer’s later versions were available as free downloads or in-service packs that were included in the original equipment manufacturer releases of Windows 95 and its later versions. Internet Explorer had reached a saturation point by 2003 with almost 95 percent usage share. With new browsers coming in from other companies, Internet Explorer’s user base fell in the following years.
In May 2021, Microsoft had announced through its website that Internet Explorer will be disabled from June 15, 2022, on certain versions of Windows 10 and had urged its customers to switch to Microsoft Edge as it would provide support for legacy and modern websites and applications. From June 15, the IE desktop application will be disabled, and users will be redirected to Microsoft Edge. Microsoft had pointed out that the Edge browser, the successor of IE, has the compatibility mode for legacy websites and apps that will still require the core functionality of Internet Explorer to work.
“IE will be retired in two phases to ensure a quality-driven retirement. During the first phase, the redirection phase, devices will be progressively redirected from IE to Microsoft Edge over the next few months after June 15, 2022. Following industry best practices, this progressive redirection will be quality-driven to ensure a smooth IE11 retirement for you and your organization. To minimize the level of potential business disruption within an organization at one time, not all devices will be redirected at the same time. This approach is designed so that you can quickly identify and resolve any potential issues, such as missed sites before all devices within your organization are redirected. The intent is for the redirection phase for all devices with Windows platforms that are in-scope for IE retirement to be complete in the next few months”, said Microsoft in its statement.
As Internet Explorer is set to finally retire most of its early users have been sharing nostalgic tweets about the time when it was the only browser available.
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