Microsoft bids farewell to Internet Explorer 11

Edge is an attempt to modernise old Internet Explorer to create better web compatibility for users


Tech Desk August 19, 2020
PHOTO: Microsoft

Microsoft will end support for the Internet Explorer 11 across all of its Microsoft 365 apps and services on August 17, 2021, the company announced on its official blog. Microsoft Teams web app will also no longer support IE 11 from November 30, 2020.

This means that after the above dates, customers will have a degraded experience or will be unable to connect to Microsoft 365 apps and services on IE 11. For degraded experiences, new Microsoft 365 features will not be available or certain features may cease to work when accessing the app or service via IE 11.

"While we know this change will be difficult for some customers, we believe that customers will get the most out of Microsoft 365 when using the new Microsoft Edge. We are committed to helping make this transition as smooth as possible," the company wrote on its blog.

Customers have been using IE 11 since 2013 when the online environment was much less sophisticated than the landscape today. Since then, open web standards and newer browsers—like the new Microsoft Edge—have enabled better, more innovative online experiences.

"We believe that Microsoft 365 subscribers, in both consumer and commercial contexts, will be well served with this change through faster and more responsive web access to greater sets of features in everyday toolsets like Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, and more."

The company acknowledges that the new change will be difficult; however, customers will be able to get the most out of Microsoft 365 when using the new Microsoft Edge.

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Edge is an attempt to modernise the old Internet Explorer. Microsoft aims to create better web compatibility for the users and less disintegration of the web for web developers.

The company has been pushing the new Chromium-based Edge browser to Windows users via updates to notify everyone that the new version is available to use.

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Edge browser comes with new features such as seamless profile switching, new privacy controls, and a read-aloud feature in PDFs.

“At a time when IT professionals are being asked to do more with less on an unprecedented level, we want to make it simple for our customers to balance productivity, security, privacy, and cost,” said Microsoft.

If you don’t wish to install Microsoft Edge manually then you can wait for it to be automatically installed in the update to Windows 10 which will be rolled out to users over in the coming months.

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