Microsoft is ending support for the legacy Internet Explorer — but it's only going to affect less than 5% of online users

• Microsoft has announced that it’s ending support for Internet Explorer starting today.
• The process will happen in phases concluding on 17 August 2021.
• While the end of the legacy browser may seem like a big deal, it’s only going to affect less than 5% of online users.
  

Microsoft has announced that it is bidding farewell to its legacy internet browser — the Internet Explorer. You technically can’t uninstall the browser from a Microsoft device, but the company no longer plans to roll out any updates.

While this may seem like a big deal, less than 5% of the people online browsing the internet use Internet Explorer. The gap would be much wider if smartphones were accounted for, but this number only accounts for laptop and desktop users.


Microsoft has been planning the end of Internet Explorer for a while
Most Windows users are already on Microsoft Edge, which, by the way, will also be coming to an end on 9 March 2021. The company has already been moving its Windows 10 users to its new Chromium-based Edge browser. Any new devices it launches in the future will feature the same internet browser.

To accommodate the few businesses that still use the platform, Microsoft will be pulling its support in phases starting with pulling Internet Explorer 11’s integration from Teams.


Microsoft has been planning to drop support for Internet Explorer for a while. The beginning of the end came when the company first revealed its new Edge browser five years ago — codenamed Project Spartan at the time.

It’s also tried to re-label the Internet Explorer from being a browser to being more a ‘compatibility solution’.

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