Microsoft warns professionals and users about the risks of using Internet Explorer as your default browser. Find out why and what is the alternative coming
Microsoft has published on its official blog a note that has alarmed professionals and users. The notice contains the following warning: “If you use Internet Explorer, it’s time to stop”. The post is mainly dedicated to technicians and professionals, but of course all IE users felt affected.
The article, which appeared on the Microsoft blog on February 6, 2019, is introduced by an explicit and somewhat alarming title: “The perils of using Internet Explorer as your default browser”, which in Italian translates as “The dangers of using Internet Explorer as your default browser”. Inside the text, it is described in detail how the use of this system – now outdated and disconnected from current standards – can cause a “technical debt” both to companies and professionals, and to private users. Let’s see what this statement means and what is the alternative proposed by Microsoft.
Microsoft IE: what is the technical debt?
The technical debt is the damage caused by inefficient and often outdated technologies, not compatible with modern systems. These solutions, in order to ensure a certain stability, must resort to complex actions, which sometimes fail because they do not ensure the efficiency of the entire system. In summary, nowadays many websites are incompatible with Internet Explorer, because this browser doesn’t have all the necessary features and functionality to support them.
In fact, Internet Explorer is currently neglected by most web developers, so people who access the Internet using this browser are at a disadvantage, because the websites are not properly optimized.
What is the alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer?
After finding out that using IE can bring problems in browsing, Microsoft has thought of a more stable and efficient alternative: the Edge browser update. In fact, it is working on a new version developed on the Chromium system, which is the same code used for Google Chrome, the most used browser in the world.
This choice will allow the Edge browser to be compatible with different online platforms, however, there are those who advance some criticism. Specifically, several experts accuse Microsoft of handing over control of web browsing standards to Google.
At the moment, it is not yet known when Edge’s upgrade to Chromium will be implemented, but the change will probably happen by April 2019.