Internet Explorer is finally heading for the pasture.
As of Wednesday, Microsoft will no longer support the previously dominant browser that legions of web browsers liked to hate, and some still claim to adore. The 27-year-old app now joins BlackBerry phones, dial-up modems, and Palm Pilots in the trash of technology history.
The demise of IE was no surprise. A year ago, Microsoft said it would end Internet Explorer on June 15, 2022, pushing users to its Edge browser, which launched in 2015.
The company made it clear that it was time to move on.
“Microsoft Edge is not only a faster, more secure, and modern browsing experience than Internet Explorer, but it’s also capable of addressing a key concern: compatibility with older websites and applications,” said Sean Lyndersay, CEO of Microsoft Edge. Enterprise. , wrote in a blog post in May 2021.
Users marked the death of Explorer on Twitter, and some referred to it as a “bug-free and insecure POS” or “main browser for installing other browsers.” For others, it was a time for 90s nostalgia memes, while The Wall Street Journal quoted a 22-year-old who was sad to see IE leave.
Microsoft launched the first version of Internet Explorer in 1995, the antediluvian era of web browsing dominated by the very popular first browser, Netscape Navigator. Its release marked the beginning of the end of Navigator: Microsoft merged IE and its ubiquitous Windows operating system so closely that many people simply used it by default instead of Navigator.
The Justice Department sued Microsoft in 1997, saying it violated a previous consent decree by requiring computer manufacturers to use their browser as a condition of using Windows. Finally, it agreed to resolve the antitrust battle in 2002 over its use of its Windows monopoly to crush competitors. He also became entangled with European regulators who said that linking Internet Explorer to Windows gave it an unfair advantage over rivals such as Mozilla’s Firefox, Google’s Opera and Chrome.
Meanwhile, users complained that IE was slow, prone to crash, and vulnerable to hackers. IE’s market share, which in the early 2000s exceeded 90%, began to fade as users found more attractive alternatives.
Today, the Chrome browser dominates approximately 65% of the global browser market, followed by Apple’s Safari with a 19% share, according to Internet analytics company Statcounter. IE’s heir, Edge, is down about 4%, just ahead of Firefox.
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