Microsoft to bid adieu Internet Explorer and Edge Browser in 2021
Microsoft launched Internet Explorer on August 16, 1995. Microsoft is all prepared to say goodbye to its old Internet Explorer browser. Well, not entirely, but Microsoft will end support for Internet Explorer 11 for its 365 apps on August 17, 2021. Microsoft will also end support for its legacy Edge browser on March 9, 2021.
Internet Explorer will stop working, or customers will have a degraded experience when connecting through Microsoft 365 applications. Without support after August 17, 2021, Microsoft 365 users on Internet Explorer will not be able to access some functions, while others will stop working altogether. Before the August deadline, Microsoft will stop supporting Internet Explorer on its Teams platform.
However, this is not only all bad news for companies still using Internet Explorer 11. Microsoft, in its blog post, said that customers who have their own applications and investments inherited from IE 11 would be able to continue using them. It's worth noting that there are still tons of companies that rely on Internet Explorer for their services. Microsoft isn't killing Internet Explorer just yet because of the business customers it still has, but it's probably about time the transition begins for these companies.
Another service that is disappearing is the Microsoft Edge browser legacy on March 9, 2021. So post this date, the old Edge browser will no longer receive security updates. Microsoft said it had updated most of its Windows 10 customers with the new Edge browser. Microsoft released its Chromium-based Edge browser last year that comes with a legacy Internet Explorer mode. But Microsoft clarified that the end of support for IE 11 also applies to its legacy application in the Edge browser.