Microsoft to end IE

Being a FF user, I haven't used IE much but others will have to be aware:
https://www.reviewgeek.com/83953/ri...osoft-to-officially-say-goodbye-in-june-2022/

 

I'll keep an eye on Ebay.

 

I was a long time fan and user of IE and never fell for all the false information from the MS bashers, or the competitors' marketing hype about it being so insecure that users "will" get infected if they keep using it. So I kept using it (with no problems) until Microsoft pushed out the first Edge version. Then it just seemed to me (and others I talked to) that IE almost immediately started to develop performance issues. It may be tinfoil hat stuff but it "seemed" MS, through W10 updates, started sabotaging IE in some misguided attempt to force users to Edge. I still never got infected, but I started having problems rendering sites, logging into other sites, pages locking up and other performance issues.

The problem was, the first version of Edge was a total fiasco - clearly an unfinished, inferior product pushed out before it was fully developed by the execs and marketing weenies at MS, against the wishes and advice of the developers (as I was told by two different MS sources) at Microsoft. So I switched to Pale Moon until the new Chromium based Edge came out.

What surprises me (kinda, sorta, but not really) about this announcement to EOL IE is it is still sticking around until next year but MS EOL'ed the old Edge already. Oh well. I will never pretend I understand what goes on in that cavity between the ears of the marketing weenies and execs at MS. I just make sure to remind myself they are different people than the developers there - who, IMO, are top notch.

What really does amaze me is the number of users (including corporations) still using IE. I was at my local university medical center in the Physical Therapy clinic the other day and there was this torture... err... I mean PT machine there still using XP! And it connected to the hospital network with IE. My therapist said they can't get rid of it because the proprietary software that runs the machine requires XP and would cost over $10K to replace! Dumb - but not uncommon.

Anyway, IE moving to EOL brings a nostalgic sadness to me - in the same way Netscape did long ago when I was forced to give up Netscape for IE (or risk getting fired). It is like saying goodbye for the last time to an old friend.

 

I am like others on here. Used IE for years with no problems. Then I tried FF and haven't looked back. Edge is not bad. I uses it to log into a couple of different sites under another user name that I use on FF.

 

Me too. Not picking on FF users, but FF was the first major alternative to IE, so FF users and those promoting FF were the first and most vocal about how bad and insecure, supposedly, IE was.

I used to stop those folks in their tracks by asking one simple question, "So you stopped getting infected just by switching from Internet Explorer to Firefox?"

The typical response was Bambi in the headlights. And never, not once did I get a "Yes" reply. It was always, "I never got infected before" or "No, I also installed Zone Alarm Firewall, a spam blocker, and started using SUPERAntiSpyware and AVG at the same time".

The truth was, and still is, that any of the popular browsers were, and are safe AS LONG AS we keep the OS current, use a decent anti-malware solution (and keep it current too), and we aren't "click-happy" on every unsolicited link, download, attachment and popup we see - again, the same precautions needed regardless our browser of choice.

I tried FF when it came out, and I liked it - but not enough to make me want to change. Like many programs (and human nature) most of us like best, the status quo and what we are used to. That's why I had to go down kicking, screaming and scratching to let go of WordStar in favor of Word. Try to pry Word out of my hands now. Go ahead. I dare you!

But it was not long before FF became so popular, it also got a bigger target on its back. And for a while there, more (often many more ) newly discovered vulnerabilities were constantly being discovered in FF that I never made it my default. It was so bad for awhile that my company, a major IT Defense contractor company developing and supporting secure DoD and State Department secure networks, prohibited FF on our networks and computer systems.

In Mozilla's defense, they were the best, IMO, at releasing updates to patch or fix those vulnerabilities in the most expeditious manner - often taking a couple days (or less!) compared to Microsoft's weeks or even months.

Of course, just because a program has a known vulnerability, that, in no way, means it is (1) exposed and (2) can be exploited by bad guys. But still, leaving known vulnerabilities unpatched for so long is bad for publicity - yet MS never seemed to get that despite the fact they hated getting blamed for all the security issues that were NOT their fault. Oh well - that's for yet another discussion.

Anyway, I never made FF my default but as mentioned above, I did Pale Moon, which, of course, is based on a forked version of FF. Edge is my default now but PM is my primary secondary browser - the one I use first to verify a site is good or having problems whenever Edge cannot render it properly or I have problems logging in. Thus far, it is always the site, not Edge (or me using the wrong username while insisting my credentials were correct! ).