Internet Explorer, the star of Windows, dies at the age of 26

Internet Explorer is dead. Microsoft is retiring from IE today after nearly 27 years. The old web browser has been shut down in favor of Microsoft Edge, with support officially withdrawing for IE 11 today. It’s the end of the Internet era, after Microsoft in the beginning Stay away from the Internet Explorer brand With the release of Windows 10 in 2015.

For consumers, there are not many changes. Internet Explorer use has declined in recent years, with StatCounter appear IE holds less than half a percent of the total browser market share. Microsoft has been trying to prevent people from using Internet Explorer for years now, and the company previously classified it as a “compatibility solution” rather than a browser that companies should actively use.

Microsoft will start rolling out a new router in the coming months that will redirect these resident Using Internet Explorer to Microsoft Edge. Ultimately, Internet Explorer will be permanently disabled as part of a future Windows update. You can read more about how Microsoft handles the removal of Internet Explorer in Windows here.

While Microsoft has moved to the Chromium-powered Edge browser as the default browser on Windows 11, the MSHTML engine that powers Internet Explorer is still part of Windows 11. It only exists for IE mode in Microsoft Edge, and Microsoft says it will support IE mode in Edge until 2029 at least.

Companies have largely moved to Edge’s IE mode for web applications and sites that are so old that they still require Internet Explorer. Microsoft created this IE Mode for Edge in 2019It supports older ActiveX controls that many older sites still use. Spiritually, Internet Explorer will live through this mode, but there will be no Internet Explorer cookies Any more.

Image: Microsoft

Some companies will still be surprised to stop Internet Explorer, or they won’t be able to completely remove its use in time. Nikki I mentioned this week Some government agencies and financial institutions in Japan have been slow to respond to IE’s retirement. The Japan Pension Service website should still be displayed in Edge’s IE mode, for example.

There are likely thousands of companies and similar Internet Explorer use cases around the world as well. Microsoft has warned that Internet Explorer is being retired today for years, and is still cautiously dealing with prompts and redirects until the browser is removed entirely in the coming months.

Windows 11 users won’t have to worry about Internet Explorer, because it doesn’t even ship with a file Accessible version of IE. It’s the first time Microsoft hasn’t bundled IE with a new version of Windows in over 20 years. This assembly decision led to the infamous United States vs Microsoft Antitrust battle and European Commission actions against Microsoft that resulted in a Browser poll within certain versions of Windows.