Microsoft has confirmed it will be putting an end to Internet Explorer, claiming that the future of the now over 25-year-old web browser on Windows 10 is now in the hands of Microsoft Edge.
In the announcement, the tech company stated the web browser app will go out of support on June 15, 2022, but will begin with ending support for Microsoft 365 and other apps for Internet Explorer 11 on August 17, 2021.
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Microsoft presented a number of reasons for eliminating its iconic web browser, including improved compatibility with its Edge browser, modern features such as Edge's vertical tabs, and much better security. While Internet Explorer will be no more (which shouldn't bother the standard internet user at all), it will still live on through the Edge browser via Internet Explorer (IE) mode.
Internet Explorer is no more: what this means for you
IE mode allows anyone to access sites that require Internet Explorer to open, as it has a Trident MSHTML engine from Internet Explorer 11 baked into Edge's Chromium engine. Those who use it will even see the signature IE logo on the left side of the navigation bar.
For consumers that are still using Internet Explorer on Windows 10, you should probably make the jump to Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome (although, it would be hard to find anyone who hasn't transitioned yet with both Google and Microsoft's excessive messages telling us to change browsers).
Microsoft's addition of IE mode is mainly aimed at organizations that still need Internet Explorer 11 for backward compatibility. Surprisingly, Microsoft claims that businesses have an average of 1,678 legacy IE-based websites and apps that have built up over the years.
As for web developers, Microsoft even states the company has known they've "been waiting for this day for a long time," as it's clearly difficult to support Internet Explorer side-by-side with modern browsers.
So, while the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application will retire, it will still be alive and kicking through Microsoft's more modern Edge browser. That said, the tech company states IE mode will be supported until at least 2029, meaning the iconic browser's days are still numbered.
Microsoft seems to be on a killing spree, as the company recently put its lightweight OS Windows 10X to bed.
