27 Years Later Microsoft Bids
Adieu To Internet Explorer

When it was first launched in 1995, Internet Explorer steadily climbed to the top, capturing the market of other established browsers such as Mosaic and Netscape. From the period between 1997 to 2008, Internet Explorer was the most used browser worldwide. But, in 2002, Mozilla launched Firefox, a browser that would slowly capture the user’s interest and reign for a while.

Since then, the usage of Internet Explorer has been slowly declining. When Google launched Chrome, it followed the path set by IE and Firefox, growing steadily until it overtook all the browsers in the industry.

Browser Usage Statistics for 1995-2022

Graph showing the Rise and Decline of Internet Explorer

Supporting Browser Usage Statistics

By 2022, 0.64% of the internet users were using Internet Explorer to browse. We have also shared supporting statistics on browser usage for IE, Firefox, and Google.

Years	Internet Explorer	Firefox	Chrome
1995	2.3	0	0
1996	19.8	0	0
1997	35.5	0	0
1998	51	0	0
1999	76	0	0
2000	86.7	0	0
2001	89.9	0	0
2002	84.5	3.5	0
2003	87.2	5.7	0
2004	80.4	12.6	0
2005	73.8	22.4	0
2006	62.4	27.8	0
2007	58.5	35.9	0
2008	52.4	42.6	0

Years	Internet Explorer	Firefox	Chrome
2009	39.4	47.9	6.5
2010	30.4	46.4	16.7
2011	22	42	29.4
2012	16.3	33.7	42.9
2013	11.8	28.9	52.8
2014	8.5	24.9	59.8
2015	6.5	21.6	63.3
2016	4.44	6.72	51.06
2017	3.35	5.72	55.04
2018	2.55	4.93	62.28
2019	1.57	4.39	63.62
2020	1.05	3.77	63.68
2021	0.46	3.91	63.8
2022	0.64	3.26	64.95

Sources: W3Schools, James Eagle, and GsStatsCounter

End of Support Announcement

On May 19th 2021, Sean Lydersay, the General Manager of Microsoft Edge Enterprise, published a blog announcing that Microsoft would end support for the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application on June 15th 2022.

At the time, Lyndersay wrote that the future of Internet Explorer on Windows 10 is in Microsoft Edge, which was launched in April 2015. Lynderday continued to sing praises of Microsoft Edge, stating that it offers a more secure, faster, and modern browsing experience.

In August 2021, Microsoft’s apps, such as Microsoft 365, ended support for Internet Explorer 11. Here’s Microsoft’s timeline for the time of announcement to the retirement of Internet Explorer.

Almost a year later, on 15th June 2022, a day before IE 11 was going to retire, Microsoft announced that it had ended support for its first web browser, the Internet Explorer.

Social Media Reactions

People worldwide took to social media platforms to express their feelings about the announcement. Many people on Instagram found creative ways to offer a warm farewell.

Sources: Unacademy, ALKO & The Cyber Security Hub

Microsoft Edge also joined the masses and shared a tweet, thanking its predecessor and expressing its condolences on the discontinuation.

While we are sad to see Internet Explorer go, we wonder if Microsoft shouldn’t have ended support sooner. For years, people complained about its slow loading speed, which never improved to the current standards. It’s time to see if Microsoft Edge delivers on the promise of being better.