The internet browser mainly responsible for the rise of other internet browsers Firefox and Chrome is officially out of commission: yesterday, Microsoft ended its support for Internet Explorer 6, 12 years after it launched the much-reviled software.
IE6 was met with almost universal condemnation for its lax security measures (and few bug fixes), almost complete disregard for evolving web standards and user interface concerns, and for being the most obnoxious face of Microsoft’s foray into the World Wide Web.
Its poor public perception opened the way for newer browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome to hack away at its once 90% market share, and left it with its current hold of only 4.15% of the world market. Its reputation is so bad, Microsoft’s new and improved iterations of Internet Explorer, currently at version 11, are still suffering from mistrust. There’s a reason why Windows users refer to IE as the browser they use to search for other browsers to download and install.
We’d like to say that we’ll miss the old girl, but we can’t, because that would be lying.
Microsoft also ended their support for Windows XP and MS Office 2003 yesterday, so a lot of diehards are going to have to start considering evolving up to Windows 8.1. Maybe.
Story: The Verge
