Microsoft has officially retired Internet Explorer, ending support for the web browser that was instrumental in helping the company defeat Netscape.
Internet Explorer has been on the scene for nearly 27 years, and was Microsoft’s answer to Netscape. Netscape helped popularize the web browser and was poised to help the browser become a platform of its own, one that could pose a threat to Windows. Microsoft went on the attack, using Internet Explorer, and ultimately won the first Browser Wars.
Fast-forward more than two decades and Internet Explorer is barely a footnote, long since replaced with Microsoft Edge and eclipsed by Google Chrome, Apple’s Safari, and Netscape’s successor, Mozilla Firefox. Microsoft has been working to move users toward Edge, and has now ended all support for Internet Explorer.
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“After 25+ years of helping people use and experience the web, Internet Explorer (IE) is officially retired and out of support as of today, June 15, 2022,” writes Sean Lyndersay, General Manager, Microsoft Edge Enterprise. “To many millions of you, thank you for using Internet Explorer as your gateway to the internet.”
For those who remember how awful it was to support Internet Explorer when creating websites, trying to make them compatible with the browser’s horrible standards support — goodbye and good riddance. You won’t be missed.
