It seems that the browser that once dominated the web is set to become history. After all, more than a quarter of a century is a long time in the technology world. Surviving this long and staying relevant (at least to a certain few) almost seems like a miracle. But the time has come to wave goodbye to Internet Explorer. To say farewell to the hassle of opening a web page and getting a file, waiting an eternity for it to load. This browser has become synonymous with slowness as of late, but as you probably know, that was not always the case.

Microsoft introduced Internet Explorer in 1995 as an add-on package for Windows 95. After being launched, it became one of the most popular tools for accessing the Internet since it was made available to everyone as a part of the package with the later versions of this operating system. But IE fell from grace with its 6th version, which was spoiled by frustrating performance, and was notorious for security vulnerabilities that Microsoft was sometimes slow to fix.

Interestingly, Microsoft even developed a sense of humor after facing vast amounts of hate from internet users. They officially admitted that the browser is widely criticized after they launched IE9 with a campaign aptly titled The Browser You Love To Hate, and the resulting video was a clever way to poke fun at IE with the rest of us. In the hilarious clip, the protagonist, a former IE-hater, goes out of his way to stop people from using the browser. "The only thing it is good for at all is downloading other browsers," he insisted, and we couldn't agree more.

"I’m a web developer and for a long time, Internet Explorer has been a major thorn in my side," Alan Bradburne, an experienced web application developer and founder of XenoCode Inc., told Bored Panda.

"In the early days of the web, it pioneered some things that we now take for granted, but it often had non-standard implementations and quirks that made it difficult to support. So from a developer’s standpoint, not having to support it anymore is a major relief!"

Alan pointed out that most web users have long since moved on to modern browsers and associate IE "with the squealing noises of dial-up connections, the uh-oh or ICQ and AIM status updates!"

He also mentioned that most people are surprised to discover that IE is still in use by a lot of corporations. "Many internal company applications were built to use specific IE features, so support of it ending is certainly a problem for many since they will have to (finally!) update their applications to work with modern browsers," he added.

It looks like putting an end to a quarter-century-old app sparked some level of panic among certain businesses that had internal systems built around the deprecated browser. And apparently, Japan is one of the most affected countries by the move. According to Vlad Savov and Marika Katanuma, editors at Bloomberg, a survey in March found that 49 percent of companies in Japan still use IE for their systems. While Microsoft announced their retirement plan over a year ago, they had plenty of time to transition to different software, yet it appears that many procrastinated.

"Businesses across the country are now having to move swiftly to ensure they’re still able to run operations that previously relied on apps built atop Microsoft’s long-tenured browser," they explained in the article.

But despite the gradual decay of IE, it still maintained a strong brand recognition. A Roy Morgan survey prepared for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in September 2021 found that while Chrome had the highest level of awareness among people (95%), it was followed by Internet Explorer (85%), Mozilla Firefox (81%), Safari (80%) and Edge (69%).

However, the same survey revealed that only 28% of people actually used IE on their computers, while four in five used Chrome — including 73% of Apple computer users. Can you guess the main reason why people chose IE over others? Some participants revealed it was already on their computer and there was no reason to use another browser, and others did not even know there were other options available to them.

Still, the vast majority of internet users avoided using IE in the last few years. "The biggest issue is that as web technology advanced, IE didn’t keep up, and so sites often didn’t work properly," Alan Bradburne told us. "It is most definitely time for us to say goodbye!"

Seeing how faster and better browsers took over, the tech giant started gradually encouraging people to shift away from IE and embrace Edge, their new go-to browser. Sean Lyndersay, general manager of Microsoft Edge Enterprise, wrote in a May 2021 blog post, "Not only is Microsoft Edge a faster, more secure and more modern browsing experience than Internet Explorer, but it is also able to address a key concern: compatibility for older, legacy websites and applications."

"We can’t thank everyone enough for supporting Internet Explorer over the years," he added. "Many people and organizations around the world have depended on IE to support them as they’ve learned, grown, and conducted business online."

Alan agreed by saying that Edge is the future of Microsoft's web browsers. But he also added that it’s always fun to consider how rapidly the internet has advanced and changed our lives. "IE certainly brings back many memories, but it is definitely time to relegate it to the obsolete software pile."