To remind the reader of perhaps the forgotten name that is Internet Explorer (IE), it is a web browser developed by Microsoft in 1995 which once accumulated 95% of usage shares in 2003. The growing utility and popularity of the browser between the late 90s and early 2000s lead Microsoft to invest a substantial amount of money each year during that period. The browser soon experienced increasing inactivity by users due to the introduction of more modern and relevant browsers such Firefox, Chrome and more. While the development of Microsoft Edge in 2015 was to be IE’s replacement, it is surprising how many individuals and business remain dependent on IE. Hence, Microsoft have recently published a blog to ensure foregoing the use of IE.
This blogpost published by a Microsoft personnel states that “simply having in the computer would enable a security risk”. The issue pertained involves the common possibility that an attacker would administer arbitrary code, corrupt memory, and take control of the affected system if the IE user logged on using administrative user rights (Jackson, 2019). This issue is not only recognized by Microsoft but a handful of security researchers that began testing last year.
In addition, businesses who use IE would raise their technical debt. Technical debt is the costs of additional work caused by opting for easier or incumbent technological solutions rather than adopting modern tools that would take longer to implement, but solve more problems long-term (Osborne 2019). IE’s most current version does not want to risk breaking old applications hence increases further costs of neglecting new applications.
Microsoft Edge solves these issues, yet its market share is still lower than that of IE’s in 2019. Can we expect Internet Explorer to draw out its last few breaths, or will it continue to prevail RockyBalboa-like?
References:
Microsoft publicly puts Internet Explorer on death notice: https://www.techradar.com/news/microsoft-internet-explorer-dead-1995-to-2019-rip
The perils of using Internet Explorer as your default browser: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Windows-IT-Pro-Blog/The-perils-of-using-Internet-Explorer-as-your-default-browser/ba-p/331732
Stop Using Internet Explorer Immediately:https://mashable.com/article/internet-explorer-vulnerability-just-stop-using-it/?europe=true
