Microsoft has stopped rolling out new updates for Internet Explorer, with the vintage web browser now truly part of history. With this done, Redmond is now preparing for the next steps in its browser push.
And this involves an automatic migration of existing IE users to Edge.
Redmond has been cautioning users about the June 15, 2022 date as the end of life for Internet Explorer for quite some time. And the company has also been beckoning these handful of users to plan their migrations to Edge.
While the number of organizations that still use the classic web browser may not be huge, they make up a substantial user base for IE. Microsoft says that it will display a prompt on affected devices to tell these users that the future of Internet Explorer is in Edge.
As Sean Lyndersay, General Manager, Microsoft Edge Enterprise, explains:
“Over the next few months, opening Internet Explorer will progressively redirect users to our new modern browser, Microsoft Edge with IE mode. Users will still see the Internet Explorer icon on their devices (such as on the taskbar or in the Start menu) but if they click to open Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge will open instead with easy access to IE mode. Eventually, Internet Explorer will be disabled permanently as part of a future Windows Update, at which point the Internet Explorer icons on users’ devices will be removed.”
As part of this redirection process, users will find that all their browsing data, including favorites, passwords, and history, will be moved automatically to Edge. This will help make the migration both familiar and simple.
Users will also have the option to delete or manage their data at any point during the transition.
Needless to say, not a lot of users are running Internet Explorer, so the demise of the web browser is more likely to affect companies that have specifically developed their custom applications to support this old browser.
Hopefully, the transition to the new web browsing platform will be smooth with these steps in place.
