Internet Explorer officially loses support for Microsoft 365
After years of collaboration, Internet Explorer has entered the final “retirement” process. This week, Microsoft officially ended support for Microsoft 365 through the traditional browser.
“Support is not available for Microsoft 365 apps and services on IE11. Also, you shouldn’t expect new features when accessing the bundled software through this browser,” explained the company in a note on the official blog.
According to the statement, daily browser usage could “progressively worsen” until Microsoft 365 applications and services are disconnected. Banners will be used to communicate and alert users to changes.
All apps and services will be phased out over the next few months to ensure a smooth end to support. Then, Internet Explorer will be officially retired on June 15, 2022.
Currently, 4.5% of all users of Windows still use the famous browser. Much of that number includes companies across industries that will need to upgrade and migrate to Microsoft Edge or other software.
the path to retirement
For more than a year, Microsoft has been warning that Internet Explorer will be discontinued. Since May 2020, the company has encouraged users to switch to other browsers such as Microsoft Edge.
In a silent move to force the move to modern software, the brand shipped the “IEtoEdge BHO” to some machines in October. The extension automatically redirects over 3,700 websites opened in IE11 to Edge.
In November of last year, Microsoft also withdrew support from the old browser to Microsoft Teams with Internet access, being another ploy for customers to migrate to the new software.
