Internet Explorer goes dead from today

Microsoft kills off Internet Explorer 8 9 and 10

Microsoft kills off Internet Explorer 8 9 and 10

As a voluntary attempt to shake off all the negative connotations revolving around its web browser named Internet Explorer, Microsoft intends to bake its new browser into Windows 10 operating system. Codenamed as Project Spartan and officially named as Edge, this new web browser by Microsoft has been specially designed for Windows 10 devices to offer a plethora of advanced features like a distraction-free reading experience, ability to annotate on web pages and integration of Cortana for spotting and executing things online at a rapid pace.

Microsoft bids adieu to IE

Coming into light in August 1995, the Windows Internet Explorer has had 11 different versions been released since the last 20 years. Even though the browser was successful in dominating the web, it fell prey to a wide array of disadvantages. Having exposed to numerous security vulnerabilities, the IE (Internet Explorer) was severely hit by the security scandal in 2006 where it was discovered it was feasible for the rogue websites to steal details or take control of the users’ computer systems. As a different security concern, the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) in 2008, recommended users to turn off the ActiveX controls within the IE, followed by instructing users to stop using Internet Explorer until the patches were fixed.

All those who still haven’t upgraded to Internet Explorer 11 or higher versions may be at a great digital risk by the move involving the phasing out of Internet Explorer. Here’s a listing of two critical ones:

  • Latest security updates and bug fixes will cease to exist for IE versions other than 11– The shift will purely mark an end to the security updates as well as other technical assistance available for Internet Explorer versions other than IE11. This could easily leave millions of consumers clinging to the older IE versions which are vulnerable to a wide majority of cyber attacks that would be a quite tedious to fix safely.
  • Switching to a new software can be daunting for big companies and government organisations– Using a new software is a task that might turn to be quite challenging for large scale business enterprises who are supposed to roll out the changes across multiple departments within the organization.

Knowing the reasons behind killing Internet Explorer

Let’s dive into three key reasons behind phasing out of the Internet Explorer brand:

  • The once-dominant IE (Internet Explorer) is now clicked upon for just 13 to 20 percent of web sessions.
  • Failure of IE parent company i.e. Microsoft to tweak the browser in accordance to the fluctuating browsing demands of consumers who are using their mobile devices for accessing the web. That means, today, nobody would be interested in downloading Internet Explorer as their mobile browser.
  • Microsoft has failed in its initiative to serve Internet Explorer as the portal to an incredible population of cloud-based services.

Understanding how other popular browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Chrome etc. would get benefited by phasing out of IE

While a majority of individuals and enterprises might decide to run their browsers in virtualized containers as an attempt to maintain compatibility with outdated business applications, there are other firms which due to lack of capability of running IE11 would consider moving to other browser options like the Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox etc.

Considered as Microsoft’s end-of-life announcement, the killing of Internet Explorer will perhaps have a mixed set of repercussions pertaining to developers and consumers- something we definitely need to look forward to.