Microsoft has announced that it will retire the desktop application of its dated web browser Internet Explorer in June next year. The company will instead promote Microsoft Edge as its web browser offering to all users.
Microsoft has marked the end of the line for its famous web browser Internet Explorer. Having struggled through the latter half of its existence, Internet Explorer would be shut down in June next year to give way to Microsoft Edge.
Microsoft first introduced the Internet Explorer on Windows in 1995. The web browser enjoyed a run of more than 25 years since then. Much of this life was marred by a gradual decline in its user base over the years, thanks to its slow evolution that was outpaced by that of its competitors like Google Chrome.
Microsoft had long seen this coming and hence, had decided to bring in Microsoft Edge as its primary web browser. As Edge marked its debut in 2015, Internet Explorer was reduced to a “compatibility solution” for Microsoft users.
In a recent blog, Microsoft has announced that the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application will be retired on June 15, 2022. The company has even shared a timeline for this phase-out of the app.
As per the timeline, Microsoft will pull off Microsoft 365 and other apps and support for Internet Explorer 11 on August 17 this year. This was first indicated by the company in an announcement last year, as it pulled off Microsoft Teams support for IE 11 since then. The removal of support for the desktop application of IE 11 will follow next year. Microsoft is expected to end the Internet Explorer bundled in Windows soon after.
“We are announcing that the future of Internet Explorer on Windows 10 is in Microsoft Edge,” Microsoft stated in its blog. The company cites several reasons for this transition.
First, it says that Edge offers better compatibility than IE11. It mentions that Edge has a dual engine advantage that supports both legacy and modern websites, as opposed to the built-in legacy browser support for websites and applications on IE 11.
Microsoft also highlights several new features on Edge that offer vastly enhanced productivity in comparison to Internet Explorer. It also states that the browser is much more secure than IE 11.
Going forward, Microsoft suggests its users shift to Edge if they are using Internet Explorer. The company says that the transition can be completed smoothly, with an easy transfer option for all the passwords, favourites and other browsing data from Internet Explorer.
More importantly, it points out that Microsoft Edge even has a built-in Internet Explorer mode, so users can still access it if they come across a website that needs IE to run.