The end of Microsoft Internet Explorer

2021 is the last year that Internet Explorer will be supported and available for download. In the coming months, this will be scaled down further and further and mean that Microsoft will completely switch to the Chromium version of Edge. Let's take a look back at Internet Explorer and the earlier Edge browser in this blog post.

There have been a lot of browsers in the past that were seen as the way to get on the Internet, from the first Lynx browsers what looked like teletext to Netscape. When Microsoft launched Internet Explorer in 1995 together with the Windows operating system, it was the logical choice for many people to use it right away. It was of course already installed together with Windows. It was therefore available to everyone, including the growing market of computer users. From students to the elderly. Everyone was familiar with Windows and therefore also Internet Explorer. Even so indoctrinated was the symbol of Internet Explorer with the Internet that this was the default mindset of many.

Internet Explorer (finally) comes to an end

Internet Explorer had been a great success since its inception, and many previous web applications required its use themselves. From government agencies to hospitals to education. Many of these agencies also use Internet Explorer to this day to often use their internal software. These web applications will all need to be updated in the near future to stay up and running. Without updates to this, no longer supporting Internet Explorer will risk functionality and security.

And what better way to do this than in .NET Core with a separate package for it. MijnHostingPartner.nl supports this and will support it for a very long time. So if you are looking for a new place to recreate an ASP Classic application in .NET Core. Then MijnHostingPartner.nl is your partner in hosting.

With a web application still running with Internet Explorer you will have noticed that it became slower and slower over time, due to performance updates and outdated technology. With a.NET Core hosting package you will see your application fly. Thanks to the dedicated application pool, the SSD drives and the resources put away here for each website.

The new Microsoft Edge still has an Internet Explorer compatibility mode, however this is limited in its functionality and will not provide a full Internet Explorer experience. So there is no guarantee that your web application will still work with the compatibility mode.

Microsoft Edge, failed and now back with a new architecture

The earlier versions of Microsoft Edge were intended to provide a modern Internet browser in addition to only fixed Windows computers. This was seen as the browser for mobile use, with the tablet and on modern devices blurring the lines of mobile and desktop use. Even on other operating systems. Released in 2014 and still founded on the engine of Internet Explorer, a recipe that ultimately did not lead to success.

In 2018, the decision was finally made to tie the knot and rebuild Edge from the ground up with this time Google Chrome's open source engine, chromium. But with Microsoft's look and feel. The result is a browser that comes with the benefits of Google Chrome, but with Microsoft's User Interface and performance. It is too early to tell in 2021 whether this vision of Microsoft will come true. But the numbers are slowly climbing, also the result of the hard pushing Microsoft is doing to get the new Edge used by users first.

So what does this mean for the future?

Specifically, it means that the hand is also being forced to switch to the later web standards and that Internet Explorer is no longer an issue for which you also have to make your website suitable. If you are still one of the people or organizations that depend on Internet Explorer, then you really should switch now. Just like the end of Windows XP, continuing to run these applications can be very dangerous, even irresponsible.

Furthermore, Internet Explorer no longer needs to be taken into account for every website you create. And that piece of code for the CSS, Javascript and other things that Internet Explorer couldn't handle can now finally be removed. So this brings back better standards for the future, and can now be focused on just the modern browsers. This also makes your website cleaner in the code, and will only benefit the speed.

Microsoft is not yet finished with the development of the new Edge browser, and also calls to improve privacy protection in the future by blocking for example trackers and other sometimes malicious software on a website. An important item with today's day. After the launch and success of the Brave browser, a browser that we at MijnHostingPartner.nl also use on a daily basis, the demand for this is clear. Users don't always want to be followed with a Facebook pixel, Google Analytics code, Ads and profiling your internet behavior. This also has to be done sometime, with the use of the Brave browser these things are blocked. And you get to see the numbers of this with each new tab. How many things are blocked based on a day's browsing is also worrisome.

But this is something the future will continue to tell how this is handled. A farewell to the Internet Browser that a large generation grew up with, Internet Explorer.

Inspiration for this article: SmarterMail blog