Internet Explorer End of Life is Here

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) debuted three decades ago and introduced millions of users to the (then) relatively new wonders of the world wide web. IE was so wildly successful in the 1990s and early 2000s that it was commonplace to write web applications based on its proprietary rendering engine. Twenty years later, many of those web applications are still in use — but Internet Explorer has reached its end of life. IT Leaders are faced with the challenge of navigating the transition to modern web applications without disrupting the business or leaving users exposed with unsupported, deprecated technology. Island stands ready to help.

The transition away from IE is a long time coming and Microsoft has gone to heroic lengths to minimize the impact to their customers. In 2015, Microsoft launched Edge, the successor to IE, and recommended that customers begin planning their migrations. In 2019, Microsoft Chief of Security Chris Jackson recommended that customers stop using IE as their default browser. In 2020, Edge adopted the Chromium engine, greatly improving compatibility with virtually all modern web applications that are built and optimized for Chromium. Last year the IE desktop application ended support for most versions of Windows and this year all remaining IE applications will be disabled with an update for Windows 10. The end of the IE era is here.

Today, web applications play a critical role in virtually every enterprise. The evolution of SaaS and web technology makes the web browser a mission-critical application. What started as a mostly passive browsing experience in the 1990s is now an activation application platform with nearly limitless potential. This insight is what inspired Island to create the Enterprise Browser: a web browser that’s built for today’s enterprise workflows, and includes the security, productivity, and IT management tools that businesses need.

To assist customers in making the transition away from Internet Explorer, Island offers IE Legacy Mode, based on the same technology used in Edge (Microsoft is committed to including legacy mode through at least 2029). To support the widest possible range of applications, Island Legacy Mode can be configured for IE5 through IE11, along with supporting legacy dependencies like ActiveX or Silverlight. But Island goes much further than simple compatibility. Choosing the Enterprise Browser gives you complete control and visibility to every web application and browsing activity — without making any changes to the underlying web or SaaS apps you’re using. The Enterprise Browser is secure by design, insulating users and critical application data from whole categories of web-based threats or malicious attackers. It can create secure network connections to legacy apps served from behind your firewall, without a VPN client. It’s also smart: you can build in business logic to modify the behavior of web applications without ever touching a line of code. Island’s integrated robotic process automation (RPA) can add multi-factor authentication, remove a deprecated button, mask sensitive data, and more. And importantly, the Enterprise Browser is backed by a dedicated team of web technology experts who can help guide you through the IE transition and build a future-proof web application strategy.

Internet Explorer is going away. Legacy applications must be addressed. This is the ideal moment to take a fresh look at the web browser and discover how the Enterprise Browser delivers a dramatic, positive impact on every layer of cybersecurity and all other functions of IT, all while improving the end user experience. When you’re ready, let's talk.