End of the road for Internet Explorer
by Dave Moore, CISSP
04/03/2022
You may recall my column, “Internet Explorer: this is the end, my friend,” dated June 27, 2021.
You may recall my column, “Finally, Microsoft begs you: stop using Internet Explorer,” dated August 11, 2019.
So, what the heck? Am I writing about this subject for a third time?
Yes, I am sad to report that somehow, vast swaths of the Internet-using public still seem fixated on using Internet Explorer. No rhyme, no reason, it’s just what they do, just like how Daddy was an Edsel man; he always bought an Edsel when it was car buying time.
Except that buying an Edsel is no longer a viable car-buying option. Guess what? Using Internet Explorer is no longer a viable browser option.
In the previous columns, I described how how Microsoft bigwigs, in 2019, declared the Internet Explorer browser dead, saying it should no longer be used as a general Internet website browser. Then, they announced the date of the funeral: June 15, 2022. That is the date that “the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application will be retired and go out of support” for the vast majority of computer users.
So, what are we waiting for? Nails in the coffin? Why am I still meeting people all the time that are still clinging to the pending corpse of Internet Explorer?
It’s time to switch browsers, folks. Mozilla Firefox is still the best and safest general-purpose website browser around. Get it, enjoy it, and be happy.
Internet Exploder. That’s what we used to call it in the I.T. security community, back in “the day.”
Microsoft’s browser, called “Internet Explorer,” was so buggy, so insecure, so problematic and prone to crashing that it seemed to blow itself up without warning. Hence, the moniker, “Internet Exploder.”
Ah, Internet Explorer. An almost nostalgic sigh occurs at the sight of its familiar and comfortable blue lower-case “e.” Internet Explorer: the browser that won, not because it was the best product, but because it had the most powerful marketing department. A classic David and Goliath tale that went the wrong way.
Some of you might remember the “browser wars” of the late 1990s when an uppity company called Netscape introduced its product called Netscape Navigator. Back then, the Internet was just starting to ramp up in the public consciousness. “Browsers,” like Netscape Navigator and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, offered easy ways to “browse” the hundreds and thousands of Internet websites that were starting to appear.
At the time, Microsoft was the world’s dominant computer company, but had not really embraced the idea of the “Internet” way of doing things. In fact, in his book “The Road Ahead,” Bill Gates brushed off the Internet as a mere stepping stone to what he saw as “the real information superhighway,” which he promoted as being MSN (the Microsoft Network). Of course, his main competitors at the time, Compuserve and AOL (America Online) were not pleased with his opinion.
One month after his book hit the stores, and realizing the Internet was becoming a force that Microsoft could not control, Gates released a “Completely Revised and Up-to-Date” version of his book in October, 1996.
Then came the “Browser Wars.” Mosaic, the first widely used Web browser, was transformed into Netscape Navigator by Jim Clark and Marc Andreesson. Netscape Navigator was widely loved and used (especially by me), but Microsoft had different ideas. Before long, Microsoft used its corporate might to crush the upstart Netscape, and push it into oblivion.
Even though Netscape Navigator was clearly the superior browser, and did a better job of taking you to and showing you the rapidly developing World Wide Web (WWW) of websites, it could not stand up to the overwhelming might of the Microsoft machine.
Microsoft, because of its unethical practices, was sued in 2001, in “United States v. Microsoft Corp,” and found guilty of monopolization and attempted monopolization. Still, its massive promotional juggernaut was not to be denied.
After all was said and done, in spite of everything, Internet Explorer became the most widely used browser in the world, mainly because, if you wanted to use Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer was pitched as the only way to go. Browser war, over.
Fast forward to today. We are blessed that super-smart programmers have taken the original Netscape Navigator browser and transformed it into the Internet’s best general-purpose browser: Mozilla Firefox. Internet Explorer, plodding, fumbling and bungling its way along, dominated the browser scene, not because of product superiority, but because of marketing might. But wait: now, the Google Chrome browser has jumped into first place, again, not because it’s the better product, but because it is is backed by the most powerful marketing machine in history.
Stop using Internet Explorer. Just stop. I’ve been preaching this sermon for years. The time is now. Stop using Internet Explorer. Forever and ever. Long live Firefox. The end. Amen.
Dave Moore, CISSP, has been fixing computers in Oklahoma since 1984. Founder of the non-profit Internet Safety Group Ltd, he also teaches Internet safety community training workshops. He can be reached at 405-919-9901 or internetsafetygroup.org