Google has revealed that its search engine will no longer support Internet Explorer 11 making Google Search the latest product to pull support for Microsoft’s legacy browser.
First released back in 2013 alongside Windows 8.1, Internet Explorer 11 was also ported back to Windows 7 as many Windows users didn’t feel the need to upgrade their operating system at that time. Just three years later though, Internet Explorer was replaced by Microsoft Edge with the launch of Windows 10 in 2015.
However, since Edge wasn’t available on older versions of Windows, Internet Explorer 11 remained the default browser on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. As a result, the browser was able to hold on to its market share despite the fact that Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and other third-party browsers offered an improved browsing experience.
After ending support for Docs, Sheets, Slides and other Google Workspace apps back in March of this year, Google is finally ending support for Google Search in Internet Explorer 11.
Fallback experience
Google software engineer Malte Ubl shared the news that Google Search will no longer officially support Internet Explorer 11 in a recent tweet.
Apparently the Google Search team “did the math” and found that maintaining support for Microsoft’s legacy browser was no longer worth it. Also according to UbI’s tweet, “it is time” to leave Internet Explorer 11 behind and make the transition to Edge or another modern browser.
If for some reason you’re still using Internet Explorer 11, you’ll still be able to use Google Search through a “fallback experience” created by the search giant. While searching the web will still work on Microsoft’s legacy browser, the experience won’t be as fully featured as it is on other browsers.
With the launch of Windows 11 just a day away, now is the perfect time to leave Internet Explorer 11 behind for good and check out all of the new features in Microsoft Edge if you want to remain in the software giant’s ecosystem.
Via 9to5Google