author: Bart Swiatek
Microsoft Suggests Companies Stop Using Internet Explorer
Microsoft posted a message on the company's official blog, in which it advises companies still using Internet Explorer browser to switch to a newer browser.
IN A NUTSHELL:
- Microsoft encourages companies to give up Internet Explorer in favour of a more modern browser;
- the use of outdated technologies creates problems for others and hinders innovation;
- Most versions of Internet Explorer are not officially supported either way.
Microsoft has published a blog note in which it asks Internet Explorer users to.... change their browser to a newer one and allow the age-old application to retire. The entry is directed to companies that often recommend using Internet Explorer as the default browser.
According to Chris Jackson, such an approach creates the so-called "technological debt" and is a source of considerable problems for companies and programmers. It is a situation in which a company chooses IE for convenience, thus deciding to use a very outdated technology and making innovation more difficult both for its own IT specialists (if it employs them) and for the entities with which it cooperates - because they have to adapt to that standard.
Microsoft's the developer warns that this approach disconnects the company from modern applications and solutions that are available only for modern browsers.
You see, Internet Explorer is a compatibility solution. We’re not supporting new web standards for it and, while many sites work fine, developers by and large just aren’t testing for Internet Explorer these days. They’re testing on modern browsers. So, if we continued our previous approach, you would end up in a scenario where, by optimizing for the things you have, you end up not being able to use new apps as they come out. As new apps are coming out with greater frequency, what we want to help you do is avoid having to miss out on a progressively larger portion of the web! - we read in the note.
It is worth noting that migrating to a modern browser also significantly increases network security. Internet Explorer versions 8, 9 and 10 are no longer supported by its creators since 2016, so whatever security gaps they may yet have will never be patched (while this does not apply to version 11, switching it for Firefox, Chrome or Edge, for example, is equally viable).