Microsoft Officially Shuts Down Internet Explorer

It is the end of an era. Microsoft will officially shut down the Internet Explorer web browser on June 15th. The news was announced over a year ago, as Microsoft has phased out IE over the last six years, replacing it with the newer Edge.

Starting June 15th, all users of Internet Explorer will be prompted to use Microsoft Edge. 

Related: Rumor: Microsoft Working On Adding In-Game Adverts To Free-To-Play Xbox Titles

The History of Internet Explorer

Released by Microsoft in August 1995, IE was one of the first widely available web browsers. It was included for free on all Windows updates until updates stopped in 2016 in favor of Edge. Microsoft bundling Internet Explorer with all of its software contributed to its once-thought insurmountable market share. 

At its peak in 2003, Internet Explorer comprised 95% of Internet web browser usage.

As of 2022, only .38% of all web traffic comes from IE.

Over time IE was overtaken by Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft’s favored Edge. Internet Explorer was plagued with problems and lost out to newer, flashier search engines that operated faster, with more security, and didn’t crash as often as IE. 

There are specific legacy programs, including Microsoft’s Server OS will still work within IE until 2029. 

Related: Microsoft Announces Plans To Acquire Activision Blizzard For $68.7 Billion.

Need To Update To Edge? 

Update to Microsoft’s up-to-date Edge browser at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge. 

The Internet Pays Tribute 

Here are some of our favorite tweets paying tribute to Internet Explorer.

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