IE, RIP

Farewell to the first, and most mediocre, web browser most of you started with.

Happy retirement to Internet Explorer. I was a dedicated Netscape guy (actually, I started browsing the web on Mosaic) but for most people of my generation and the one immediately afterwards, it was IE that introduced them to the new world of the internet, so I do have a kind of nostalgic affection for it. As with USENET, Yahoo! and that soothing dial-up modem sound, it is a symbol of these exciting early days when the way we communicate, consume entertainment and access information changed irrevocably.

When left-wingers and right-wingers agree (usually a really bad sign) that big tech must be broken up for having too much power, I’m taken back to the exact same debate in the nineties, when Internet Explorer being included on new Windows PCs was the new Standard Oil, only worse.

Internet Explorer was bundled into Microsoft’s Windows operating system, and Microsoft would not allow computer manufacturers to unbundle it. It was also set as Windows’ default browser in every new machine. I…