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Retiring Internet Explorer

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Re: Retiring Internet Explorer

#22

If Microsoft really believes no-one needs IE, why is it still shipping it as part of Windows 10? Specifically, why is it still shipping IE as the only browser as part of Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC, including LTSC 2019? Yes, that is the version of Windows 10 with an "extended support end date of 9 January 2029"* * https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13853/windows-lifec...

Well, as someone who installed various versios of windows over the last two decades,I can say that the only purpose of IE is a gateway to Chrome or Mozilla websites.Once they get downloaded it never gets opened again.

Re: Retiring Internet Explorer

#23

> Burndown List >> Banking, especially in Asia My bank in China requires Windows + IE + a custom ActiveX control to use their Internet banking. As a result, I don't use it. One of my accounts can be used via their mobile app (if you read Chinese or have another phone to use camera translation). My business account cannot be, and I am therefore required to visit a branch along with my official chop (seal / stamp) when…

How do they not get infected with worms and ransomware the second they browse the internet?

Re: Retiring Internet Explorer

#24

> Burndown List >> Banking, especially in Asia My bank in China requires Windows + IE + a custom ActiveX control to use their Internet banking. As a result, I don't use it. One of my accounts can be used via their mobile app (if you read Chinese or have another phone to use camera translation). My business account cannot be, and I am therefore required to visit a branch along with my official chop (seal / stamp) when…

How do they not get infected with worms and ransomware the second they browse the internet?

The paranoid part of me would suspect that they've already been taken over, and the criminals behind them are actively preventing infection from visible forms of attack so they can maintain access to a valuable resource.

Re: Retiring Internet Explorer

#25

If Microsoft really believes no-one needs IE, why is it still shipping it as part of Windows 10? Specifically, why is it still shipping IE as the only browser as part of Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC, including LTSC 2019? Yes, that is the version of Windows 10 with an "extended support end date of 9 January 2029"* * https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13853/windows-lifec...

Many Enterprises run critical legacy apps that depend on IE and it's ability to emulate lower versions. Many large orgs would require $100's of millions to rewrite all of them. No one will fund exercise that until the proverbial gun is point at them. 2029 sounds about right.

Re: Retiring Internet Explorer

#26
> A fascinating set of circumstances led to Internet Explorer’s dominance in Asian markets. First, early browsers had poor support for Unicode and East Asian character sets, forcing website developers to build their own text rendering atop native code plugins (ActiveX). South Korea mandated use of a locally-developed cipher (SEED) for banking transactions, and this cipher was not implemented by browser developers… ActiveX again to the rescue. Finally, since all users were using IE, and were accustomed to installing ActiveX controls, malware started running rampant, so banks and other financial institutions started bundling “security solutions” (aka rootkits) into their ActiveX controls. Every user’s browser was a battlefield with warring native code trying to get the upper hand.

Wow. That's... a rather unconventional security architecture.

Re: Retiring Internet Explorer

#27

> Burndown List >> Banking, especially in Asia My bank in China requires Windows + IE + a custom ActiveX control to use their Internet banking. As a result, I don't use it. One of my accounts can be used via their mobile app (if you read Chinese or have another phone to use camera translation). My business account cannot be, and I am therefore required to visit a branch along with my official chop (seal / stamp) when…

"My bank in China requires Windows + IE + a custom ActiveX control to use their Internet banking. As a result, I don't use it."

Why not have a VM just for internet banking? Surely that's easier than taking the chop out of the safe and waiting in line at the branch.

Re: Retiring Internet Explorer

#30

The last great version of IE that I personally used was IE 5.1 for Mac OS 9. It was - at the time - my preferred browser on the platform and really shone brightly. As a web designer, IE - since 6 - has been the bane of my existence. It's not nearly as bad as it used to be, but it's there.

IE6 was a very good browser when it came out in 2001. People forget how the landscape looked at that time: Netscape 6 was utter garbage, Firefox was still years away and Opera was a tiny, largely unknown niche browser that did cost money and was plagued by incompatible websites which were optimized for IE.

It's just that MS ceased investing more than the absolute minimum into their browser after releasing IE 6 - it took until 2009 until a MS browser passed the Acid2 compatibility test.

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