Image Source: Visual China

BEIJING, May 16 (TMTPOST) — Microsoft’s Internet browser Edge announced on Monday its official Weibo that Microsoft’s IE (Internet Explorer) browser will officially retire from operation on June 16.

Microsoft’s Edge browser will replace IE, according to the announcement. 

Edge will provide an IE adaptation mode for users in cases where the use of IE browser is required to enable functionality on a website. This means that even though IE browser would officially retire from operation, its functionality can still be accessed through a browser extension. 

It is worth noting that Microsoft’s Edge browser has recently secured a market share of over 10%, becoming the second most popular desktop browser in the market, behind Chrome.

Microsoft’s IE browser was the most popular Internet browser in the world. It used to account for 95% of the global market. 

IE was rolled out in the market in 1995 with the launch of Windows 95, one of the most successful operating systems of Microsoft.

As the default Internet browser of Windows 95, IE browser quickly gained popularity and beat the market leader Netscape Navigator. IE browser became the most popular Internet browser three years later. In 2003, the browser enjoyed a global market share of 95%.

IE browser then gradually experienced decline as the user experience and developer experience proved to be disastrous. 

“Then we knew how the story went. IE went into many troubles,” Microsoft said. "Probably memes that make fun of IE are more popular than IE itself."

Microsoft announced in mid 2021 that it will retire the company's Internet Explorer 11 browser in most Windows versions in June 2022. The company had also asked organizations to set a retirement date for Internet Explorer before June 15, 2022 to ensure that company employees won't run into issues when IE retires.