We have known for a long time that Microsoft has decided to phase out Internet Explorer completely by 2022. However, in order to let more people know about it, Microsoft has announced the deadline for the retirement of IE to emphasize the urgency of the full transition to Microsoft Edge. Specifically, the company has displayed a new warning in the Windows Message Center.
In addition to reminding that IE will be officially retired in June 2022, Microsoft also emphasized that the new version of Edge browser includes a specially integrated IE compatibility mode. In other words, even though IE no longer exists as a standalone application, it will continue as part of the Microsoft Edge feature set.
For those who have to continue using IE for compatibility reasons, they can enable IE Mode to extend the lifecycle of older websites and apps (before migration to a modern browser). The IE Mode in Microsoft Edge will be supported until at least 2029.
Microsoft writes: "As previously announced, the future of Internet Explorer on Windows is in Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer mode (IE mode) provides legacy browser support within Microsoft Edge."
For some versions of the Windows 10 operating system, the IE11 desktop application that comes with it will be officially discontinued on June 15, 2022.
This means that IE11 desktop applications will no longer be supported, and users will be redirected to Microsoft Edge when they try to launch IE afterwards.
In the meantime, Microsoft Edge, the default browser on Windows, is fighting for more market share at a pretty fast pace.
It should be noted that the kernel has already been switched from Microsoft's own Edge HTML to Chromium, which is homologated with Google Chrome - one of the main reasons why Microsoft hopes most users will stick with it in the long run.
Finally, as a cross-platform web browser, Microsoft Edge is not only pre-installed on Windows 10 / 11 operating systems, but also available for Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS.