The Importance of Internet Explorer in 2022 and Beyond

Isn’t Internet Explorer irrelevant these days?

Internet Explorer has lost its importance in our lives, but it will take at least another half a decade for it to be truly gone.

Internet Explorer has been pronounced dead for quite some time now to the extent that people have completely disregarded it as their browser of choice. Countless applications and software platforms have triumphantly exclaimed that they are dropping support for Internet Explorer in pursuit of progress. This may be a reasonable position to take for most consumer apps, but many professionals and businesses still rely on Internet Explorer for their daily activities when it comes to specialized applications.

Almost nobody still uses it though right?

More than a decade ago, IE made-up 65% or more of browsers in regular use. Today it has gone down to 2% or even lower. Looks like it will disappear momentarily, doesn’t it? In reality, IE’s market share follows a nice, clean, inverse log curve. That means it’s likely to remain in this 1% range for a long, long time. To this day we are still hearing about COBOL being used in the backend of banks right? Internet Explorer follows a similar pattern of continued use largely due to systems with reliance on Active-X controls.

Microsoft stopped supporting Internet Explorer on November 30, 2020. Microsoft wants to get rid of IE and honestly, we all want it out of the way. It has been a source of challenge for developers for decades due to its lack of standards-compliant implementations of common web technologies.

Despite this, it brought with it some tools that many early web-based application developers embraced. Microsoft recognizes that IE will remain in use in corporate environments for basically as long as it still provides value. Systems that have become entrenched are both costly and time-consuming to replace and in many cases replacements are simply not available. This is something we recognize too and want to make sure we are getting the most out of these legacy solutions while they are still providing business value.

Microsoft will discontinue Internet Explorer support for many of its operating systems on June 15, 2022 but will retain support for IE mode on Microsoft’s current Edge browser, though at least 2029 and possibly longer.

Where do Temasys fit into the Internet Explorer story

For nearly a decade, Only Temasys has been the only firm to provide a general-use plugin for the browser that allows users to integrate standard-compliant WebRTC support into legacy solutions and give media devices access to systems reliant on legacy software.

Temasys is committed to the ongoing support of our corporate partners, and that’s why we’ll maintain support for our WebRTC plugin for Internet Explorer for the foreseeable future until we finally see the sunset of the necessity for its use.

Learn More about WebRTC for IE

The Temasys WebRTC Plugin NOT required for use of Temasys Skylink Products in non-IE browsers.