End of an era: Microsoft officially retires Internet Explorer

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — This Valentine’s Day didn’t show love to those who experienced the early stages of the world wide web.

As of Tuesday, Microsoft has officially disabled Internet Explorer for desktops, the tech company announced.

The browser was originally launched in 1995 for Windows devices. Internet Explorer had a total of 11 versions, with the last one being released in 2013.

But after nearly three decades, the web browser has grown outdated, which led to Microsoft taking action to remove it.

In 2015, Microsoft announced that it would be replacing it with Microsoft Edge as the default browser for Windows 10.

Microsoft acknowledged the retirement of Internet Explorer in June last year, but it wasn’t until the update Tuesday that users on Windows 10 were prevented from accessing the web browser.

“The change to use Microsoft Edge update to disable IE is intended to provide a better user experience and help organizations transition their last remaining IE11 (Internet Explorer 11) users to Microsoft Edge,” Microsoft said.

All devices that attempt to open Internet Explorer will now redirect to the Microsoft Edge web browser instead.

Microsoft also intends to remove visual references, such as the Internet Explorer taskbar icon, in an update later this year. The update is currently scheduled for June 13.

Today, the Chrome browser dominates with roughly a 65% share of the worldwide browser market, followed by Apple’s Safari with 19%, according to internet analytics company Statcounter. Internet Explorer’s heir, Edge, lags with about 4%, just ahead of Firefox.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.