Microsoft has decided to retire Internet Explorer’s consumer edition.
It made Internet Explorer 11 the final version of Internet Explorer 11, and announced it last year.
Internet Explorer was first launched on Windows desktop computers in 1995. By 2004, it had captured 95% of this market.
However, Google Chrome and Apple’s Safari are now the dominant browsers.
Microsoft Edge was launched alongside Windows 10 in 2015. It is designed to help users who want to stay with Microsoft.
Internet Explorer’s popularity was slowed down by Chrome and Firefox’s faster browsers. Users also seized upon new apps to navigate platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Google Search.
With pre-installed Safari browser on Apple phones and Google Chrome on Android phones, the rise of smartphones arguably proved to be the final blow. This helped shift internet access into the mobile realm.
According to StatCounter, an independent web analytics company StatCounter, mobile and tablet internet usage surpassed desktop worldwide for first time in October 2016.
StatCounter also found that Google Chrome accounted for more than 60% desktop internet usage in the world, while Internet Explorer and Edge combined sat just behind Firefox.
Edge has an “IE mode” that allows developers to access legacy applications.
Microsoft claims that access to its legacy desktop browser is available on older Windows versions, such as Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 Extended Security Updates. This includes Windows 8.1, Windows 7 Extended Security Updates, and limited Windows 10.
Internet Explorer will continue to be a legacy program, as it was pre-installed on Windows computers since more than 20 years.
Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder, stated that the launch of Windows 95 and Internet Explorer would be part of Microsoft’s effort to ride the “internet tsunami” in 1995.
Although his vision of a “microcomputer at every desk and in every house, running Microsoft software”, may seem outdated, Internet Explorer will be remembered for being one of the most influential tools that has shaped how the internet is used today.
