After more than 25 years, Microsoft has made a major decision
of terminating Internet Explorer. Over the years, Explorer has observed a
decline in its usage and is finally retiring. About the announcement, Microsoft
Edge program manager, Sen Lyndersay said, “We are announcing that the future of
Internet Explorer on Windows 10 is in Microsoft Edge.”
According to Microsoft, the Internet Explorer 11 desktop app will go out of support on June 15, 2022. Explorer will only remain a part of the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) of Windows 10, but will no longer be supported by other consumer versions.
Microsoft Edge will now serve as an alternative for Explorer
with its IE Mode that the company released few years ago. The IE Mode supports
older ActiveX controls and legacy sites, which are still used by many
businesses. Microsoft says that it will continue to support the IE Mode in Edge
until through 2029 at least.
Microsoft has been slowly cutting off support for Explorer. The
Microsoft Teams web app ended support for Explorer last year. Starting later
this year, Explorer will not be accessing Microsoft 365 services, like like
Office 365, OneDrive, Outlook, and others.
The downturn of Explorer began more than 5 years ago with
the launch of Edge that took over Explorer. Microsoft even termed Explorer as a
mere “compatibility solution” rather than a browser and started encouraging people
and businesses to discontinue using Explorer in favor of Edge.
