Microsoft has announced its popular internet browser Internet Explorer will finally retire on June 15, 2022 after being in use for nearly 25 years. Post-retirement, it will no longer receive support services from the company. Microsoft has chalked out plans for its successor Microsoft Edge and is encouraging users to shift to the new browser at the earliest.

The company had restricted the features of Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) last year and the users got only limited functions. In August last year, softwares like Outlook and OneDrive available in the Microsoft Office 365 bundle, stopped connecting to IE11 and in November, the web app for Microsoft Teams had stopped functioning on this platform too. Microsoft had termed it a “degraded experience" on IE11, touting the future of internet browsing on Windows 10 in Microsoft Edge.

Internet Explorer lost its place in the world of browsers after 2008. Till the launch of Google’s Chrome in 2008, IE had enjoyed a 90 percent market share, and today it has just 1 percent market share.

The company promises Microsoft Edge to be a faster, more secure and more modern browsing experience than Internet Explorer. Ardent followers of IE have also been assured that Edge has Internet Explorer mode (‘IE mode’) built in, enabling access to legacy Internet Explorer-based websites and applications straight from Microsoft Edge.

Other compelling reasons to shift to a new browser include security, compatibility, speed with regular updates and performance upgrades.

(Edited by : Shoma)

First Published:May 20, 2021 8:54 PM IST