The Death of Internet Explorer Is Just Weeks Away

Decades ago, Microsoft used its might to turn Internet Explorer into the de facto standard for web browsing. That got the company into hot water with regulators, but it was all for naught. Internet Explorer was on the decline for a long time before Microsoft moved to Edge. Now, it’s the end of the line for IE. Microsoft is following through with its plans to retire IE as announced last year, and the big day is just three weeks away on June 15th.

As recently as the early 2000s, Microsoft’s browser held almost the entire market. Then came the likes of Firefox and Opera, which began eating into Microsoft’s lead. The tipping point came in 2009 at a time when people began expecting more from their desktop browsers, but Microsoft was hesitant to add modern features to IE. That’s the year Google released Chrome, which caused a precipitous drop in IE usage. Google was neck and neck with IE by mid-2012, and then it left Microsoft’s browser (and everyone else) in the dust.

Microsoft began updating Internet Explorer more regularly, but the damage was done. It moved to the Edge browser in 2015 with the release of Windows 10, but even that didn’t reverse the company’s online fortunes. It recently scrapped the old Edge and moved to a version based on the same open source Chromium code as Google Chrome.

Microsoft has been moving toward killing IE for several years, but its usage share is still around 0.38 percent, according to StatCounter. Edge, meanwhile, enjoys a four percent market share, and Chrome is around 64 percent. While IE’s user base is tiny, even a fraction of a percent of the entire internet-using population is still a lot of people. Microsoft is naturally urging these folks to upgrade to Edge in advance of June 15th, and it’s not taking “no” for an answer.

The upcoming deadline isn’t just the end of support — Microsoft hasn’t updated Internet Explorer since 2020. This is when Microsoft will begin actively disabling Internet Explorer on Windows 10 systems. These computers will all have Edge pre-installed, so users will have another browser ready to go. In the days and weeks after June 15th, users who try to load Internet Explorer will find themselves redirected to Edge. Microsoft has recently clarified that it may also roll out a system update that streamlines the process.

Anyone still on an older (and unsupported) version of Windows with Internet Explorer could technically continue using it, but this setup is an inadvisable security nightmare. It’s time for IE stragglers to get with the times, whether they want to or not. For those who need to access sites and services that inexplicably only play nicely with Microsoft’s old browser, Edge offers an IE tab mode.

Continue reading

Massachusetts Passes Robust Automotive Right-to-Repair Law

Right to repair advocates scored a major victory this week with the passage of Question 1 in Massachusetts. Hailed as the most advanced right to repair law in the land, Question 1 requires that automakers create an open data platform for sharing diagnostic and repair information with independent shops and vehicle owners.

Huawei Sells Honor Brand Amid Tightening Trade Restrictions

(Credit: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)Huawei has been battered by US trade restrictions in the last few years, and it’s taking a toll on the company’s long-term stability. Experts don’t expect a radical change when the new US administration comes to power next year, so Huawei is beginning to take drastic action. It has sold its Honor…

This Giant Claw Could Soon Clean Up Space Junk

Cleaning up space to prevent collisons is a tall order, but the ESA has just funded a giant space claw that could show the way forward.

Razer’s Tomahawk Ultra-Compact Desktop PC Goes on Sale This Month

The ultra-compact PC will be available for pre-order this very month with specs including a Core i7 CPU and up to an Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics card. Razer's new PC won't come cheap, though.