All good things must come to an end. As must the not-so-good things, apparently, because after almost 27 years of less-than-remarkable service, Internet Explorer will be heading off to the big Recycle Bin in the sky tomorrow (15 June).
We’ve known about this for some time now, to be fair - it’s not just come completely out of nowhere. But if you’re still stuck in the 90s, today is your last day to make the most of your low-speed browsing and email sending before you’re forcibly thrown into the modern world. Maybe let your grandparents know in advance, too.
If there's one thing that this impressive futuristic PC build needs, it's Internet Explorer as its default browser - too bad it won't be able to use it beyond today.
As reported by Metro, while Microsoft have slowly been removing support for the browser for some time, it’s going to be completely disabled on Windows 10 in a matter of hours. Obviously, anyone running Windows 11 has already said goodbye to our laid-back friend, since Microsoft Edge is the default browser there. It’s Edge that’ll be replacing Explorer tomorrow on Windows 10, too (although of course, you can download any other browser you please and set that as your default if you don’t want it).
“The Internet Explorer (IE) 11 desktop application will end support for Windows 10 semi-annual channel starting June 15, 2022,” Microsoft wrote on Internet Explorer 11’s lifecycle page. “Customers are encouraged to move to Microsoft Edge with IE mode. IE mode enables backward compatibility and will be supported through at least 2029.”
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Now, chances are, the vast, vast majority of people reading this won’t be affected by Internet Explorer’s demise at all - I personally can’t think of a single person I know who used it beyond the early 2000s. That said, it really is the end of an era - it’s genuinely pretty sad to see it go. Goodbye, old friend, and thank you for all the emails you spent such a long time loading.