Transitioning from one popular product that was once the de facto leader of the market, to another product, is not an easy task.

For Microsoft, it's an extremely daunting process.

After winning the first browser war against Netscape Navigator, and winning the market without any worthy opponent, Microsoft was the leader in the browser market. But later, after Google, Mozilla and others started creating their own respective browsers, Internet Explorer was rendered obsolete.

Not only that it failed to keep up with the fast-paced internet world that was developing, Microsoft also failed to keep tabs on competitors.

After years trying to kill Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft is finally able to put the final nail to its coffin on certain versions of Windows 10 devices.

On February 14, Microsoft released a major update to permanently disable the aging browser software.

According to a website post, Internet Explorer 11 desktop application "permanent disablement" is done through a Microsoft Edge update, not a Windows update as previously communicated.

After the update is installed, all remaining devices that have not already been redirected from Internet Explorer 11 to Microsoft Edge are automatically redirected.

"The change to use Microsoft Edge update to disable Internet Explorer 11 is intended to provide a better user experience and help organizations transition their last remaining Internet Explorer 11 users to Microsoft Edge.

It's worth noting here, that Internet Explorer 11 has been out of support since June 15, 2022.

But again, just like before, the "Internet Explorer" brand is a difficult one to die.

Even with the update, Microsoft is still saying that visual references, such as the Internet Explorer 11 icons on the Start Menu and taskbar, would remain on users' system.

Microsoft plans for their removal through a June 2023 Windows security update, scheduled for June 13, 2023.

Microsoft also has a planned non-security preview release on May 23, 2023, which can also remove the said instances.

For once and so many times, Microsoft said that the future of Internet Explorer on Windows 10 is in Microsoft Edge.

What this means for commercial organizations, IT admins, developers, and end users, Microsoft wants Edge to totally replace Internet Explorer, by bringing a faster, more secure, and more modern web experience.

Internet Explorer is so resilient because of its users and legacy products.

This is the reason why Microsoft is equipping Edge with an Internet Explorer mode ("IE mode"), as a built-in compatibility for legacy Internet Explorer-based sites and apps.

Internet Explorer was first introduced by Microsoft in 1995, and quickly became one of the world's most-used tools for accessing websites.

However, soon after Google released Chrome and Mozilla released Firefox, the internet that was a growing up phenomenon overwhelmed Internet Explorer, that the web browser was frequently criticized for lacking popular features that other browsers had.

Microsoft tried to compete, but saw that the only way to save (and kill) the Internet Explorer brand properly, is by rebranding it first to Edge, and leave Internet Explorer's remains to be removed slowly in the course of years.