"Goodbye, Internet Explorer" MS to Fully End Support by June Next Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Cho] The internet browser synonymous with the early days of the internet, 'Internet Explorer (IE),' will be discontinued in June next year, marking the end of 27 years.

Microsoft (MS) announced on its official blog on the 19th (local time) that "support for the IE 11 desktop application will end on June 15, 2022."

After this date, IE installed on PCs will be disabled. Even if IE is launched, it will automatically switch to MS's other web browser, Edge. However, MS plans to maintain Edge's 'IE mode' at least until 2029 to minimize inconvenience for users accessing IE-based websites after the transition to Edge.

First released in 1995, IE was regarded as the representative web browser of the early internet era. In the early 2000s, it even surpassed a 90% market share in web browsers. However, it has since been overshadowed by competing browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and smartphones. It has been criticized for failing to respond agilely to the mobile era and for vulnerabilities in web standards and security.

The end of IE was a foreseeable event following the release of Edge in 2015.

Accordingly, MS has been preparing for the end of IE by discontinuing support for the collaboration tool 'Teams' last November and restricting access to some features of the subscription-based Office 'Microsoft 365 (M365)' starting this August.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.