Windows 11 is deleting Internet Explorer

At one level in Windows 10’s lifetime, you may have had Internet Explorer, the legacy model of Microsoft Edge, and the brand new Chromium-powered Edge all put in. This trio of browsers was the proper illustration of Microsoft’s struggles with the net over the previous decade, however now that Internet Explorer is being laid to relaxation in 2022, it’s disappearing from Windows 11, too.

Microsoft revealed yesterday that Internet Explorer will probably be “disabled” in Windows 11. At first, I used to be apprehensive that it meant Internet Explorer would possibly hold round forward of the ultimate nail in its coffin on June fifteenth, 2022, however it’s truly absolutely disappearing from Windows 11. “The Internet Explorer 11 desktop application will not be available on Windows 11. Microsoft Edge is the default browser for Windows 11,” explains a Microsoft spokesperson to The Verge. “The MSHTML engine exists as part of the Windows 11 operating system to power IE mode in Microsoft Edge.”

We weren’t anticipating Internet Explorer to seem in Windows 11, however Microsoft did warn that the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) of Windows 10 would nonetheless embody Internet Explorer subsequent yr regardless of a shopper removing deliberate for June fifteenth, 2022. Windows 11 will now absolutely take away the browser, and in case you use shortcuts like iexplore, you then’ll now be redirected to Microsoft Edge as a substitute.

It’s the primary time Microsoft hasn’t bundled Internet Explorer with a brand new model of Windows for greater than 20 years. If reminiscence serves me appropriate, the Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2.5 in 1997 was the primary time Microsoft explicitly bundled Internet Explorer into Windows Explorer and different key components of Windows.

That bundling led to the notorious United States v. Microsoft antitrust battle only a yr after Internet Explorer’s debut in October 1997. The relaxation, as they are saying, is historical past.