Microsoft’s IE browser is coming to an end, and netizens have made a real tombstone.

Hey fat friends, today the IE browser has officially withdrawn from the stage of history. Although you may have only used IE to download Chrome 800 years ago, as a “childhood memory”, netizens still have very deep feelings for this old comrade.

No, the terrier came in line.

Grim Reaper: IE, it’s time to hit the road.

IE: Internet Explorer has stopped working.

Some people think that IE still exists in the world relying on Horcrux (manual dog head).

But there are also people who can’t wait to give IE P a tombstone.

According to Korean netizens, in Gyeongju, South Korea, there is also a physical version…

The epitaph reads: He used to be a good tool for downloading other browsers.

From 96% to 0.64%

On the occasion of this farewell, let’s review the turbulent life of IE, the former browser big brother.

The first version of Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer 1, was born in August 1995. The first round of web browser “war” kicked off: At that time, Netscape, as the top browser in the browser industry, had a market share of more than 70%.

It is worth noting that at that time Apple’s default browser was Netscape, and as a competitor, Microsoft did not have its own default browser before IE.

By bundling with Windows, IE quickly hit Netscape. Especially after the launch of Internet Explorer 3 in 1996, the first commercial browser to support programming languages ​​and CSS, IE’s market share began to catch up with Netscape.

With the fierce competition between the two, the web designers at that time would also put the signs of “Best results with Netscape” and “Best results with IE” on the homepage, and even triggered by this. A movement called Viewable With Any Browser.

In 1998, backed by the rich and powerful Microsoft, IE officially took over the Internet scene. The latter was acquired by American Internet company America Online (AOL) at the end of the year. Since then, IE has been singing all the way. By 2002, its market share reached an astonishing 96%, which can be said to occupy the absolute dominant position in the browser field.

Only IE succeeded, but also slack.

The IE 6.0 version was launched in 2001, and its next-generation version did not meet users until 2005. IE6 has also become a version with the longest life cycle in the series. And in this 5-year period, IE6 has been criticized by users constantly – not to mention the slow running speed, and the security loopholes are still emerging…

Although Netscape was defeated, it still left a little spark.

In 1998, when it was defeated, the Mozilla organization was established with the help of Netscape. That’s right, the Mozilla in the name of Mozilla Firefox. That’s why, Firefox is considered a “spiritual sequel” to Netscape.

In 2004, Firefox released version 1.0. By 2005, IE’s market share fell to 85% under the impact of Firefox. Under such competitive pressure, Microsoft has finally begun to regain the innovative power of the first round of browser wars and accelerated the development of IE 7.0.

But a stronger competitor soon emerged—in 2008, Google launched the Google Chrome browser, along with its open-source counterpart, Chromium. The impact of Chromium on today’s browsers goes without saying: Microsoft Edge, which has now replaced the default browser of IE Windows systems, has also been developed based on Chromium in 2020.

△ From StarCounter

The strong debut of Chrome has become the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

In 2015, IE’s market share has fallen below 20%. At the Microsoft Build Developer Conference this year, Microsoft also began to abandon IE, announcing that Microsoft Edge would replace IE and become the default browser for the new Windows system.

In 2016, Microsoft announced that it would stop releasing security updates for versions prior to Internet Explorer 11.

In 2020, Microsoft announced that it will gradually stop supporting IE.

In 2021, Microsoft announced the “end of life” of IE.

And now, the time to say goodbye has come.

Data show that in the last month, IE’s global market share was only 0.64%.