Internet Explorer now retired: The Microsoft browser that no one wanted anymore

• Microsoft has discontinued support for Internet Explorer 11.
• The native Windows browser has hardly played a role for years.
• With Edge, however, Microsoft continues to operate its own web browser.

Its pixelated symbol burned itself into the retinas of early web explorers: Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was the eye of the needle in the new networked world. Many Internet users of the late 1990s have nostalgic memories of how long it took for a simple, still graphic to load in the primeval browser.

Because the Redmond company has stopped support for the last version of the long-standing standard browser today. This means that there are no more security updates and adjustments for Internet Explorer 11 – but hardly anyone has used it anyway.

Google Chrome dominates the browser market

Google’s Chrome browser has dominated the market for more than a decade – and Apple’s native browser, Safari, is now also enjoying a decent share of users thanks to the much more widespread use of Mac computers. Internet Explorer, at the turn of the millennium there was almost no alternative, has actually played no role for years.

The era of the blue E is logically coming to an end after 27 years – because Microsoft is now using its newer Edge browser. This is gaining traction among web users and has already overtaken Mozilla Firefox, the second-biggest loser of the last decade after Internet Explorer.

How Internet Explorer has lost the favor of Internet users over the years can essentially be determined by two main factors: On the one hand, the Microsoft browser has long been considered a gateway for cyber malware. However, the Windows standard browser could no longer keep up with the competition in terms of speed.