RIP Internet Explorer, 1995 to 2022: Microsoft finally retires beleaguered browser

It’s been a long time coming, but Microsoft is putting its long-running browser to rest after 26 long years. The legacy of Internet Explorer will end today on June 16, 2022 (GMT+8) (4pm Singapore time), with support officially withdrawn for IE11 as well.

In the coming months, users trying to access Internet Explorer will be directed to Microsoft Edge, the company’s modern Chronium-based browser designed to challenge Google Chrome.

Eventually, Internet Explorer is set to be permanently disabled as part of a future Windows update.

The browser’s retirement marks the end of an era, even if it won’t affect many consumers.

According to Statcounter, 67 percent of desktop users worldwide use Chrome, under 10 percent use Safari, and just over nine percent use Edge. Firefox and Opera are ranked after, coming in at eight percent and three percent respectively.

But it’d be a lie if we said we don’t feel a slight tinge of sadness at having a piece of our younger memories become history.

Internet Explorer 2.0 was the first “free” browser and came preloaded with Windows, a move that killed the previously dominant Netscape Navigator.

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It reigned for the most part of the early 2000s, until Google Chrome came about and dealt a deadly blow to all the other browsers.

Since its rebranding in 2015, Microsoft has been putting its weight behind Edge, though with limited success.

While decent enough, it doesn’t quite measure up to some of Chrome’s offerings, such as instant access to Google Search — Bing, the default search engine for Edge, can be really iffy in its search results.

Still, let’s pour one out for the browser everyone loved to hate. RIP, Internet Explorer.

This article was first published in Geek Culture.