NotesHunt

Redmond tech giant, Microsoft has finally decided to kill off its older versions of Internet Explorer. Support for IE 8,9, and 10 will officially end on January 12^th.

“Customers have until January 12, 2016, to upgrade their browser, after which time the previous versions of Internet Explorer will reach end of support. End of support means there will be no more security updates, non-security updates, free or paid assisted support options, or online technical content updates.”

Decline in usership

Use of these older versions of Internet Explorer has been in decline for years, and now it seems their life support machine will be finally switched off.  These older versions of IE will of course still be useable, but after January 12, they will receive no support from Microsoft.

Continuing to use these older versions of Internet Explorer means that users will become more at risk from hackers and cyber criminals.

Not that sad, not really

Unlike when support ended for Windows XP however, there has not been the same level of protest levelled at Microsoft. This can be attributed to the rise and dominance of Google’s browser, and to a lesser extent, Mozilla’s Firefox as well.

Upgrade now before you become vulnerable

Microsoft has advised Internet Explorer users to upgrade to either Internet Explorer 11, or to the still relatively new Edge browser, Microsoft’s latest attempt to claw back its once dominant browser market share.  IE 11 will continue to receive updates and security patches for the duration of both Windows 7 and 8.  Microsoft announced that this day would come back in March of 2015.

The statement on the Microsoft website said:

“Internet Explorer is a component of the Windows operating system and the most current version will continue to follow the specific support lifecycle policy for the operating system on which it is installed. Internet Explorer 11 will be supported for the life of Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10. To find the support lifecycle dates for all operating systems,”

Negative vibes

For most of its 20 years of prominence, IE in general came in for its fair share of criticism and negative press. Both Google and Firefox were considered much more user friendly and efficient than Microsoft’s lumbering behemoth of a browser.