Microsoft is finally dropping its 25-year-old Internet Explorer web browser so it can focus on badgering users to make Edge their default browser instead.
Microsoft is set to finally drop its 25-year-old Internet Explorer web browser next year so it can focus all of its attention on the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser instead. In a blog post on its website, Microsoft states that „the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application will be retired and go out of support on June 15, 2022, for certain versions of Windows 10.“ Those certain versions of Windows 10 appear to be those without a long-term service contract, which are popular with a lot of commercial and industrial customers who need a consistent, compatible system for years at a time. Apparently, the thing that had kept Internet Explorer alive in recent years was how certain older, legacy websites could only be viewed using Internet Explorer. But now that Microsoft Edge can view these sites just fine thanks to its built-in „Internet Explorer mode,“ there’s no reason to actually continue supporting Internet Explorer.
