Technology
Internet Explorer to retire after 25 years
Microsoft has announced that its iconic browser, Internet Explorer, will be retired in June 2022. Industrial machinery operating on the program will be given exception to continue with the browser.
For years, Microsoft has nudged Internet Explorer users toward its newer Edge browser as a more reliable and secure alternative to the ailing Internet Explorer. As the web support for Internet Explorer dwindled, enterprises have also begun phasing out support for the browser.
Internet Explorer was notoriously unreliable in terms of speed and reliability but the biggest problem it created for Microsoft was of security.
Virtually no other software has been subject to more security bugs than Internet Explorer, in large part due to its longevity. Microsoft has patched Internet Explorer almost every month for the past two decades, trying to stay one step ahead of the hackers who find and exploit vulnerabilities in the browser to drop malware on their victims' computers. Internet Explorer was hardened over the years, but it lagged behind its competitors, which sped ahead with frequent, almost invisible security updates and tougher sandboxing to prevent malware from running on the user's computer.
For millions of users who have now shifted to Chrome or Firefox, Explorer still represented the golden phase of the years when the internet became a part of everyday life.