Microsoft will be removing Internet Explorer from the web effective August 17, 2021.
In a blog post on Tuesday evening, Microsoft said Microsoft Teams web app will no longer support Internet Explorer 11 – the most recent and final iteration of the browser - from November 30, 2020.
The remaining Microsoft 365 apps and services will end support for the browser next year.
Replacing the browser is Microsoft Edge, the computer giant’s new browser which relies on Chromium open-source software. Edge was launched five years ago.
That gives Edge more features than Internet Explorer.
This means that after the above dates, customers will have a degraded experience or will be unable to connect to Microsoft 365 apps and services on IE 11.
For degraded experiences, new Microsoft 365 features will not be available or certain features may cease to work when accessing the app or service via IE 11.
"...we believe that customers will get the most out of Microsoft 365 when using the new Microsoft Edge. We are committed to helping make this transition as smooth as possible," Microsoft said.
Customers have been using IE 11 since 2013 when the online environment was much less sophisticated than the landscape today.
Since then, open web standards and newer browsers—like the new Microsoft Edge—have enabled better, more innovative online experiences.
"We believe that Microsoft 365 subscribers, in both consumer and commercial contexts, will be well served with this change through faster and more responsive web access to greater sets of features in everyday toolsets like Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, and more,"it noted.
The announcement has been a long time coming, after Microsoft launched its Edge browser five years ago.
In 2015, Microsoft had confirmed that it intends to drop the Internet Explorer brand and move to the new Edge, which at the time was codenamed Project Spartan.
