How did 'Internet Explorer' become a jerk?

 

Technical support for Internet Explorer

“Please break up now” is not a story you tell your friends or lovers. To that program that has been sitting on my computer for the past 25 years: Internet Explorer

I've been using it for a long time and I don't think there's ever been a program with so much resentment and disappointment.

In any case, its position is clearly narrowing.

Microsoft announced that from August 2021, technical support for using Microsoft 365 web functions such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint through Internet Explorer will be discontinued.

It is saying that you cannot open Word or Excel files with Internet Explorer.

From last March, YouTube could no longer be viewed with Internet Explorer, and technical support for Internet Explorer from Microsoft's collaboration tool 'teams' will be cut off from November this year.

You don't think Microsoft is irresponsible, do you?

Microsoft has already announced that it will stop developing Internet Explorer when it released Windows 10 in 2015 and has announced several times its position to switch to a different web browser.

It would be nice if that was the 'Edge' included in Windows 10, but it was a nuance that it would be better not to use Internet Explorer even if it wasn't.

Internet Explorer is now completely out of business

Some say that Internet Explorer is now completely out of business, but Microsoft said that it will continue to update Internet Explorer 11 included in Windows 10 with basic technical support, that is, a security level that does not affect functionality.

It's a little vague, but at least if there's nothing special since it's entered into Windows 10 by default, it seems to go with Windows 10 until it disappears, and it seems to want to disappear by itself with functional limitations.

Why did Internet Explorer, which connected us to a new world called the 'Internet', become so clumsy?

There are many reasons, but I think the most decisive one is 'Active X'.

This ActiveX once enriched our internet and helped secure internet banking and shopping.

ActiveX allowed me to play games and work on the Internet.

From Active X's point of view, you might say, "No, you've been using it so well, so why are you pointing your finger now?"

Unlike the saying that Windows 95 can be installed on a 386 PC, it was difficult to even on a 486 PC, and it was an operating system with a completely different concept from the previous one, which had to be a Pentium to be able to use it.

Unlike the ‘Internet’ icon that sits right in the middle of the Windows desktop, the standard for the web browser that connected to the Internet, that is, the World Wide Web (www) was ‘Netscape Navigator.

 

This sophisticated web browser connected the new world of the Internet through Yahoo, and the broken Internet homepage on Netscape was a mistake.

Then the change began.

Internet Explorer 4.0.

In the summer of 1997, Microsoft released a beta version of Internet Explorer 4.0.

 

And I remember that OSR2, the major update pack for Windows 95, was also tested around this time.

The beta of Internet Explorer 4.0, which I installed out of curiosity, was shocking.

It's because the windows were completely replaced.

Of course, it was incredibly unstable at first. At that time, Windows 95 also had stability problems, but with the addition of Internet Explorer 4.0, the operating system became more complex and heavier than before.

I was able to encounter blue screens more often. However, as the 0.1 version was later established, the game changed in the market.

Internet Explorer has become quite usable, and the design and UX have improved significantly.

Above all, the Windows 95 update and Windows 98, which were introduced later, have taken their place as the default web browser and explorer, greatly enhancing its presence.

Although I still used Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer alone was enough to use the Internet. As cable modems began to spread, Internet use increased rapidly, and people began to use them rather than install something new.

I just started using Internet Explorer installed on Windows. The tide began to change rapidly.

The ActiveX

And something that puts a wedge here is slowly starting to take place.

That's ActiveX.

Everyone swears, but it seems that Active X is not well known. ActiveX is a framework that allows some of the content provided on the web to be used as personal computer resources.

To put it simply, it is the basis of programs that can be launched on Internet Explorer.

At that time, the performance of the server for Internet service was very poor.

Internet transfer speed was also low. As Internet services become more sophisticated, more work needs to be done on the server, but it is expensive for the service provider to process it on the server.

So, security was also poor, and running a resource-intensive service was handed over to the user's PC.

That's what ActiveX is.

ActiveX was powerful.

It was enough to play the game on its own, and I could simply run all sorts of security programs that could cover up my lack of internet security.

Internet service providers were able to expand their services for free.

It wasn't wrong. That was the internet situation at the time.

However, this is slowly starting to be abused.

ActiveX gives you unparalleled power.

Since it is a method of running an ActiveX-based app installed on the PC, of ​​course, it has the right to access the inside of the system including files.

For hackers, it's really the all-rounder. Once you have installed something, you can see it inside your computer, and you are free to remove or insert files.

Permissions are granted once and never asked again. Worse, this is only available in Internet Explorer.

Because ActiveX itself uses Windows, it has developed into Microsoft's own framework.

Microsoft has also used this as a differentiator.

Because no other web browser can run ActiveX.

As the monopoly of Internet Explorer grew stronger, the Internet became an Active X mass.

Almost all websites require ActiveX to be installed at the same time as accessing it, and users usually do so and installed it without boundaries.

If previous computer threats were like viruses that corrupted files or caused computers to behave erratically, are security threats after Active X really smishing, leaking files, stealing credit card information, and locking computers?
develops.

That is why ActiveX was so powerful and defenseless.

A more serious side effect is that the Internet has lost its original goal of openness and accessibility.

Internet Explorer evolved around Active X, which moved further and further away from web standards.

The reason Netscape moved away from the market and Firefox, which inherited its roots, had a hard time, is because the web standard that everyone promised and the actual web environment was so different.

Although Microsoft was aware of the problem, in fact, it was not actively trying to remove it.

After all, Internet Explorer has become the standard, not the standard.

The advent of Google Chrome

No one could re-enter this market. It was the advent of Google Chrome that started to collapse.

Looking back now, it's funny, but Chrome appeared as a weapon with 'lightness'. It was lighter and faster than Internet Explorer, which is a chunk of ActiveX.

And since the weight of Internet services has already shifted to Google, mainly in the US market, the proportion of Google services based on web standards has gradually increased.

Chrome was a decent substitute. Chrome quickly engulfed the market, and web services also returned to a web standard centered on HTML5, which was not covered by ActiveX and Flash due to the expansion of mobile.

Internet Explorer now has only 'disadvantages' left. The changes since then are what we are experiencing recently.

Microsoft introduced Edge, a web standard, instead of Internet Explorer, and focused more on web standards.

Microsoft has now drawn that line. The Internet has now established itself as a standard protocol made by everyone's promise, and there is no difference in obtaining information using any web browser.

It cannot be said that Microsoft was not at fault in the process so far, but this has also become a history of the growth of the Internet.

Internet Explorer is slowly being forgotten along with the greed of the early days of the Internet.

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