Microsoft will no longer host Internet Explorer after 27 years
Microsoft released the initial version of Internet Explorer in 1995
Microsoft is shutting down Internet Explorer on Wednesday, fulfilling last year's promise to retire the once-dominant browser.
Last May, Microsoft revealed that it was planning to end Internet Explorer for certain versions of Windows 10 on June 15, 2022, and that users would be redirected to the company's most recent browser, Microsoft Edge, which was introduced in 2015.
"We are announcing that the future of Internet Explorer on Windows 10 is in Microsoft Edge. Not only is Microsoft Edge a faster, more secure and more modern browsing experience than Internet Explorer, but it is also able to address a key concern: compatibility for older, legacy websites and applications," Microsoft Edge general manager Sean Lyndersay wrote in a blog post in May 2021.
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Microsoft plans to retire its Internet Explorer browser, adding to the digital scrap heap a product once at the center of one of the tech industry’s biggest battles. (Fox News)
The company announced in 2020 that it was removing Internet Explorer from its Microsoft 365 apps and services, a change that took effect Aug. 17, 2021.
Internet Explorer had been supported by Microsoft for roughly 27 years.
Microsoft released the initial version of Internet Explorer in 1995 and was the go-to browser for a number of years before users began dumping it in favor of Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.
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FILE - The Microsoft Internet Explorer logo is projected on a screen during a Microsoft Xbox E3 media briefing in Los Angeles, June 4, 2012. As of Wednesday, June 15, 2022, Microsoft will no longer support the once-dominant browser that legions of we (AP Newsroom)
Internet Explorer now joins BlackBerry phones, dial-up modems and Palm Pilots as once-prominent players in the tech industry to be thrown away.
The Department of Justice sued Microsoft in 1997 in response to allegations it violated an earlier consent decree by requiring computer manufacturers to use Internet Explorer if they wished to host Windows. The company agreed to a settlement in 2002 over its method of utilizing its Windows monopoly to stifle competing browsers.
Microsoft also faced challenges from European regulators who said tying Internet Explorer to Windows gave it an unfair advantage over Firefox, Chrome and other web browsers.
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A visitor tries out Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 10 operating system on the Surface 3 tablet device during a launch event in Tokyo, Japan (Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Users have complained for years that Internet Explorer was slow, frequently crashed and was vulnerable to hacks.
The platform's market share began to diminish from the early 2000s high of more than 90% as users looked to better alternatives.
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Chrome is currently the dominant browser, with roughly a 65% share of the worldwide browser market, according to internet analytics company Statcounter. Apple’s Safari is the second-leading browser with 19% of the market share. Microsoft Edge has only nabbed about 4% of the share, just ahead of Firefox.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.