14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft will pull the plug on old Internet Explorer versions on January 12, 2016, so after that, only the latest release of the browser will continue to receive updates and security improvements.
Although this is clearly a critical moment for thousands of users and organizations still using an Internet Explorer version older than 11, Microsoft isn’t pushing for customers to upgrade as much as it did for Windows XP, for example.
But those who are concerned about their computers’ security have already contacted Microsoft, and some have purchased custom support agreements to continue running Internet Explorer and receiving patches for at least one year after the January 2016 deadline.
“We will continue to provide technical support and security updates for the most current version of Internet Explorer available for supported versions of Windows. If customers have a technical or business issue that prevents upgrading, we encourage them to reach out to their Microsoft account team or Microsoft partner,” Microsoft has confirmed in a statement for The Register.
Why the need for Internet Explorer 8?
The same source claims that a British company has already signed a custom support agreement with Microsoft to receive patches for approximately 100,000 computers still running Internet Explorer beyond January.
In case you’re wondering how come there still are companies and users running old versions of Internet Explorer on their PCs, it’s because most need the browser to access enterprise apps or services that are specifically built to be compatible with this application.
Internet Explorer 8 is the version most often used by companies for their internal apps, so pulling the plug on the browser is clearly a difficult decision for many of them, as they would have to invest in a lot more than a simple browser upgrade. As a result, the overall costs of staying on IE8 with custom patches might actually be smaller than the transition to a new version of the browser, at least in the short term.