Microsoft is setting the sun on Internet Explorer 11 and the legacy version of Microsoft Edge. The browser will stop receiving updates and will be eventually phased out in a year. But maybe it’s not time to say goodbye just yet.Â
Since its inception in 1995, Internet Explorer has been the face of the Internet. On August 17, 2020, Microsoft announcedOpens a new window that Microsoft 365 apps and services will no longer support Internet Explorer 11 (IE 11) by August 2021.Â
IE11 will be gradually phased out. The Microsoft Teams web app will stop supporting IE 11 by the end of November 2020, and by August 2021, all the remaining Microsoft 365 apps and services will cease to support the browser.Â
Microsoft is phasing out IE 11 and removing all the dependencies to gradually shift its users to the new Microsoft Edge that was launched in January this year. The announcement said, “While we know this change will be difficult for some customers, we believe that customers will get the most out of Microsoft 365 when using the new Microsoft Edge.†Further, they assure that the transition will be as smooth as possible.
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Although this may seem like Microsoft is shutting down IE 11 entirely, but that may not be the case.Â
We all want IE to go away, but misleading headlines won’t make it be true. Yes, MSFT will drop IE on some of their sites next year, but they hold the power to auto-upgrade IE11 to Edge on Windows and aren’t doing so. MSFT is renowned for legacy support; IE wont die for a while.
— Mike Sherov (he/him) BLM (@mikesherov) August 18, 2020Opens a new window
Because a lot of businesses still rely on legacy IE 11 apps, Microsoft isn’t fully pulling the plug on the browser just yet. IE 11 will continue to function. However, Microsoft is encouraging users to switch to the new Microsoft Edge which allows access to an Internet Explorer mode to maintain compatibility.Â
Users trying to access the apps and services post these dates may experience a glitch because the browser will no longer support a lot of features. Although Microsoft holds the power to auto-upgrade its users to the new Edge, it does not seem to be doing it just yet and is giving users time to shift before IE 11 ceases to exist.Â
Wes Miller, an ex-employee of Microsoft and a research Analyst, says that IE will continue to be around as the underlying support for the new face (Edge).
IE is still there. Haunting the OS and the IE compat in Edge.
— Wes Miller (@getwired) August 17, 2020Opens a new window
Along with this, Microsoft also made the announcement to drop support for its legacy version of Microsoft Edge on March 9, 2021. Post this date, the company will not release any security updates for the browser. To help users move gradually to the new browser and get accustomed to the changes, Microsoft has deployed a new Internet Explorer legacy mode in the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge. This mode will allow users to access all the sites that are built just for Internet Explorer until Microsoft drops them completely.
Microsoft seems to have been planning to sunset Internet Explorer for years, since the launch of the Edge browser in 2015. Microsoft had been slowly moving its users to the Edge browser delivering better facilities and services and cutting down the support on IE. This announcement officially marked the end of the process.
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