The end is approaching for Internet Explorer, one of the oldest web browsers in the world, kept alive by Microsoft, although its market share has decreased drastically over time, informs CNN.
Microsoft announced this week that it will end support for Internet Explorer on June 15, 2022, after years of hesitation to announce the end of the browser, although it was visibly ignored by the company. For example, in 2020 the chat company’s program, Teams, stopped working with Internet Explorer, and 365 applications (including Office) will no longer work on IE this summer.
Once the most used web browser in the world, Internet Explorer has entered a downward slope for the past 20 years. Its market share fell below 50% in 2010, and is now at almost 5%, according to NetMarketShare.
In the announcement announcing its end, Microsoft said that the Internet Explorer browser is slow, no longer practical or compatible with new technologies, and other modern browsers are less secure.
However, IE managed to survive 26 years, and Microsoft continued to deliver it along with the Windows operating system to ensure that the programs for companies work properly. Meanwhile, five years ago, the company launched a new browser – Edge. It is not known exactly whether Microsoft will continue to install IE on Windows computers once support is complete.
Successful product in the ’90s, surpassed by competition in the 2000s
Internet Explorer was launched in 1995, the browser came with Windows 95, and was a great success, quickly surpassing Netscape Navigator. In 2002, IE was the browser used by 95% of Internet users. However, Microsoft did not develop it properly, and Internet Explorer 6 received little attention from the company for the next five years. Meanwhile, Internet users have migrated to more modern browsers, and Internet Explorer has become known for its low speed, security issues, and outdated technology. The company launched the next version in 2007, but a large number of users had already abandoned it.
Microsoft has had another attempt to relaunch Internet Explorer with the 2011 version. However, even today IE does not support extensions, is not available on other operating systems and does not automatically sync with other devices – attributes of modern browsers.
The American company acknowledged last year that Internet Explorer is not ideal for accessing the Internet. “Customers have used IE 11 since 2013, when the online environment was much less sophisticated than today’s landscape,” Microsoft announced in August 2020. “Since then, modern standards and newer browsers have allowed for a better experience.”
However, Internet Explorer has continued to be delivered to Windows users to this day, in parallel with the company’s new browser.
