There are a million obvious jokes to make about this. But it really is the end of an era.

I never had any love for #IE (pronounced "aieee!") and IMO the world would have been better off without it. #Mosaic and then #Netscape did a fine job of making the #web, and therefore the #internet, widely accessible. As a web #developer at the time it was rising to dominance, I loathed having to build two versions of every site: one for IE, and one for every other #browser. Its "innovations" were never worthwhile, only clunky versions of other software's features made just different enough to encourage lock-in.

As usual, #Microsoft didn't create a new market with IE, merely exploited and nearly took over an existing one—just as with #Windows itself, and #Excel, and Word, and many others. *Every time*, there were existing and better and commercially successful alternatives, which would have kept flourishing in Microsoft's absence. We'd all be better off it that had been the case.

They've softened their image now, but back then they deserved every ounce of loathing they got, and then some. The only reason they're not another also-ran in the long history of failed software companies is because once upon a time, a company named #IBM made really good typewriters. You know the rest.

With all that said, IE did exist, and it mattered. I won't mourn its passing, but I will note the event. Let us now pause for a moment of silence ...

And now we're done! Back to work.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/microsoft-permanently-disables-internet-explorer/