SAN FRANCISCO ( Associated Press) — Internet Explorer is finally gone.
Starting Wednesday, Microsoft will end support for the once-dominant browser that legions of netizens loved to hate, and some still claim to love. The 27-year-old app has now joined the dustbin of technology history with BlackBerry phones, dial-up modems and Palm Pilots.
The browser output was no surprise. A year ago, Microsoft announced that it would end Internet Explorer on June 15, 2022, directing its users to switch to its Edge browser, which was released in 2015.
The company then made it clear that it was time to move on.
“Microsoft Edge not only provides a faster, more secure, and modern browsing experience than Internet Explorer, but it is also able to address a major concern: compatibility with older, legacy websites and apps,” says Microsoft Edge. CEO Sean Lindersey wrote. Enterprise, in a May 2021 post.
Twitter users applauded the death of Explorer, with some referring to it as “vulnerable and full of bugs” or “the best browser to install over other browsers”. For others it was time to post memes from the 1990s, while The Wall Street Journal quoted a 22-year-old man who was saddened by the disappearance of the search engine.
Microsoft released the first version of Internet Explorer in 1995, in the antediluvian era of Web browsing dominated by the previously widely popular browser, Netscape Navigator. Its release marked the beginning of the end for Navigator: Microsoft tied IE so tightly to its ubiquitous Windows operating system that many people simply missed it instead of Navigator.
The Justice Department sued Microsoft in 1997, alleging that it had violated an earlier consent decree by requiring computer manufacturers to use their browser as a condition of using Windows. The company eventually agreed to settle an antitrust battle in 2002 over using Windows to crush competitors. It also clashed with European regulators, who said tying Internet Explorer to Windows gave it an unfair advantage over rivals such as Mozilla’s Firefox, Opera and Google’s Chrome.
For their part, users complained that Internet Explorer was slow, prone to clutter and vulnerable to hacking. IE’s market share, which was over 90% in the early 2000s, began to disappear as users found more attractive options.
Today, the Chrome browser dominates the global browser market with around 65% share, followed by Apple’s Safari at 19%, according to Internet analytics firm StatCounter. Internet Explorer’s heir, Edge, is up 4%, just ahead of Firefox.
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