After 27 years in service, Internet Explorer (IE) 11 will cease its support on 15th June. Microsoft announced over a year ago that the web browser would be removed from most Windows 10 this year.
The browser’s new feature development was halted in 2016 in favour of Microsoft Edge, another web browser created and developed by the tech giant-house. The discontinuation is also influenced by the introduction of Mozilla Firefox in 2004 and Google Chrome in 2008. Another factor is the growing popularity of mobile operating systems such as Android and Apple iOS, which do not support Internet Explorer.
Once the most widely used web browser, Internet Explorer attained a peak of about 95% usage share by 2003. Furthermore, since Internet Explorer is a Windows component included in long-term lifecycle versions of Windows – such as Windows Server 2019 – it will continue to receive security updates until at least 2029.
The tech giant house encourages users to use Microsoft Edge in IE (Internet Explorer) mode. Microsoft says it will provide a one-year notice before retiring it completely.
First released in August 1995, it was a part of the add-on package for the Windows 95 operating system. The browser was available as a free download or in service packs with the later versions and included in the original equipment manufacturer service releases of Windows 95 and later versions of Windows.
Source: Microsoft Windows Blogs.
Anis Sharina contributed to this article.
