Microsoft will be cutting support for every older version of Internet Explorer next week. Like Windows XP in 2014, Internet Explorer versions 8, 9, and 10 will no longer be updated with security patches and fixes. The final updates will come in a January 12 patch, which will also alert users that the browsers are end of life. After that, Internet Explorer 11 will be the sole version of Internet Explorer that is supported, and will be the final version of Internet Explorer as Microsoft pours its browser resources into Windows 10’s Edge browser. Microsoft’s announcement primarily affects the following configurations:
On Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows 7 Service Pack 1 x64 Edition:
- Internet Explorer 10
- Internet Explorer 9
- Internet Explorer 8
On Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 x64 Edition:
- Internet Explorer 10
- Internet Explorer 9
- Internet Explorer 8
For users of Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and 10, Internet Explorer 11 is available and this change will not affect those computers. However, users of Windows Vista will be out of luck – the latest version of Internet Explorer that will run on that operating system is Internet Explorer 9. Windows Vista itself is under extended support and will be until April 11, 2017.
However, for people still running Windows Vista, Google Chrome is still a viable and supported option. For users of even Windows XP as well as Windows Vista, Mozilla Firefox is a supported option that Mozilla has no plans to cut in the near future.
Quick Take
The writing’s been on the wall since Microsoft included what was then called “Project Spartan” in preview builds of Internet Explorer. Edge provides them a completely fresh slate from the aging Internet Explorer codebase, which at this point is being kept around simply for enterprise compatibility. But given that there are enterprises that still refuse to move away from even Windows XP, Internet Explorer will fester in some way for years to come.
