Internet Explorer is no longer available. After nearly 27 years, Microsoft is retiring Internet Explorer. With support for IE 11 being formally terminated today, the old web browser is being phased out in favor of Microsoft Edge. With the release of Windows 10 in 2015, Microsoft drifted away from the IE moniker, signaling the end of an era.
There are not many changes for customers. IE’s popularity has dwindled in recent years, with StatCounter reporting that IE now has less than a 5% share of the entire browser market. For years, Microsoft has worked to discourage users from using IE, referring to it as a “compatibility solution” rather than a site that enterprises should actively use.
Internet Explorer Has Been Retired By Microsoft
Over the next several months, Microsoft will begin rolling out a new popup that will move anyone still running IE to Microsoft Edge. As part of a future Windows upgrade, Internet Explorer will be entirely deactivated.
While Microsoft’s Edge, which is powered by Chromium, is now the default browser in Windows 11, the MSHTML technology that supports IE is also included. It exists only to enable IE mode in Microsoft Edge, which Microsoft states will be supported until at least 2029. For online apps and sites that require IE, businesses have mostly switched to Edge’s IE mode. This IE mode for Edge was established by Microsoft in 2019, and it allows outdated ActiveX controls that are still used by many legacy sites. Internet Explorer will remain on in spirit through this setting, but there will be no more Internet Explorer cakes.
Internet Explorer is not an issue for Windows 11 users because it does not even come with an accessible version. It is the first time in more than two decades that Microsoft has not included IE with the latest version of Windows. The notorious United States v. Microsoft antitrust case and the European Commission’s action against Microsoft culminated in a browser ballot inside specific versions of Windows as a result of that bundling decision.
