Microsoft on Wednesday officially retired its iconic web browser, Internet Explorer.
The tech giant had in May last year announced it will discontinue the browser beginning from June 15, 2022, and encouraged users to switch to Microsoft Edge.
“After 25+ years of helping people use and experience the web, Internet Explorer (IE) is officially retired and out of support as of today, June 15, 2022. To many millions of you, thank you for using Internet Explorer as your gateway to the internet,” the company said in a blog post.
Internet Explorer, also known as IE or MSIE, was first released in 1995 as part of an add-on package for Windows 95 – the first Windows with the infamous “start” button.
From 1995 to 2013, the multibillion-dollar software company released 11 versions of its web-browsing software – for many in the world it was the first introduction to the world wide web.
At its peak in the early 2000s, Internet Explorer controlled 95 per cent of the web browsing market, according to BBC.
Internet Explorer later witnessed a major downfall as it failed to keep up with the other browsers. Its usage share has since declined with the launch of Firefox (2002) and Google Chrome (2008).
Its last version was Internet Explorer 11, released in 2013 before being replaced by Microsoft Edge.