Microsoft Will Kill Internet Explorer in August 2021
Microsoft announced that it will end support for the Internet Explorer 11 on August 17, 2021. It will take some time for enterprise users of Internet Explorer 11 to transition to a new browser. To make the transition easy, Microsoft has added a new Internet Explorer legacy mode in the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser. This will let enterprise customers access old sites that were specifically built for Internet Explorer, until the company completely decides to drop support for Internet Explorer 11 within Windows 10.
Microsoft has been trying to push its existing Windows 10 users to use its new Chromium-based Edge browser. It has also issued a statement saying that all future Windows feature updates will include the new Edge browser. Chromium is the engine that Microsoft now uses to run its Edge browser. It is owned and developed by Google.
Microsoft unveiled its new Edge browser in 2015. The new browser was supposed to phase out the Internet Explorer. However, enterprise customers did not shift to the new browser since they would have to build up new digital infrastructure. Due to this, Microsoft labelled Internet Explorer as a "compatibility solution" rather than a web browser.
The move towards Chromium for Microsoft's browser, compared to its previous proprietary browser, has a larger impact for the future of the open internet. Chromium is now the basis of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, Avast Secure Browser, and Opera. This means that Google has greater influence when it comes to what features are developed, practices accepted, and which usability concerns are deemed essential.