[Njtechdiv] cease using IE, really

[Mario Brusco]

Stop using Internet Explorer, warns Microsoft's own security chief
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2019/02/08/stop-using-internet-explorer-warns-microsofts-security-chief/

By Hasan Chowdhury
8 FEBRUARY 2019 • 5:21PM

Microsoft's own security chief has warned millions of people who 
continue to use Internet Explorer as a default web browser are placing 
themselves in "peril".

The company, which first developed Internet Explorer in 1995, is no 
longer supporting new development for the web browser.

Continued use of the software was potentially risky, according to Chris 
Jackson, Microsoft’s worldwide lead for cyber security.

Internet Explorer has increasingly fallen out of favour for both users 
and developers amid the rise of alternatives like Google Chrome and 
Apple’s Safari, which have grabbed an increasing share of the web 
browser market.

Google Chrome overtook Internet Explorer as the world's most popular web 
browser in 2016.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/05/03/google-chrome-passes-internet-explorer-as-most-popular-browser-t/

Microsoft has been looking at new business ventures in its bid to 
reinvent itself and compete with Silicon Valley's incumbents. In 
November, Microsoft briefly overtook Apple as the world's most valuable 
publicly-listed company as investors have gained confidence in its 
push into cloud computing.

“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,” Mr Jackson said.

Microsoft has in recent years encouraged users to adopt its more modern 
web browser, the Microsoft Edge, which was released in 2015.

According to data firm Statista, about 5.5 pc of UK consumers still use 
Internet Explorer as their primary way of accessing the Internet.

In a blog post, Mr Jackson warned that companies using Internet Explorer 
are taking on a “technical debt” to pay for support on old software and 
could end up using “a 1999 implementation of web standards” if they 
didn’t take all the necessary measures to update it when creating new 
web pages.

Though a number of websites currently work on Internet Explorer, new 
apps will not be integrated into the service, limiting the web 
applications available.

A number of firms have opted to continue using Internet Explorer as 
their websites are dependent on its underlying infrastructure.

"We want you to use IE for the sites that need it - what I'm trying to 
say here is that I hope you don't use it for everything else,” Mr 
Jackson said in a comment on the blog post.

Microsoft will end support for Internet Explorer 10 in January 2020, 
while Internet Explorer 11 will remain as the final iteration of the 
software.