14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft shipped the last updates for Internet Explorer earlier this week, and now the browser is retired for many Windows users.
Without a doubt, the demise of Internet Explorer is a historical moment in the software world, Microsoft’s application has long been the leading name in the browser market.
However, as alternatives like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome gained more traction, Internet Explorer started losing users, eventually becoming just “the best browser to download other browsers.”
Microsoft itself started focusing on a new modern experience that finally went live as part of the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge, so Internet Explorer made no sense in the long term.
As a result, the software giant is retiring Internet Explorer, and South Korean software engineer Jung Ki-young decided to mark this moment in the best possible way: he spent $330 on a gravestone that was placed at the café run by his brother.
According to a report from Reuters, the message on the tombstone reads “he was a good tool to download other browsers.”
IE still available for some
Worth knowing, however, is that Internet Explorer continues to be available in some Windows versions, as Microsoft itself confirms.
“For certain versions of Windows currently in-support and used in critical environments, we will continue to support Internet Explorer on those versions until they go out of support,” Microsoft says.
“These include all currently in-support Windows 10 LTSC releases (including IoT) and all Windows Server versions, as well as Windows 10 China Government Edition, Windows 8.1, and Windows 7 with Extended Security Updates (ESUs). Future versions of these editions will not include Internet Explorer. Developers who rely on the underlying MSHTML (Trident) platform and COM controls on Windows will also continue to be supported on all Windows platforms.”
Everybody is, however, recommended to switch to Microsoft Edge and use the built-in IE mode that replaces Internet Explorer.