Microsoft hasn't been being too secretive about its plans for the venerable old web browser of the internet world, Internet Explorer. It's been signalling its intent to shutter the browser for a while now.

It's just announced a major milestone in that process, though, confirming that the browser will stop getting official support on most versions of Windows 10 from June 15th, 2022. 

As you'd expect, the view is that Microsoft Edge, its newer, faster browser, will take Explorer's place as the default assumed browser for people on Windows, which it has practically already been for some time. 

We'd assume that this also means that Internet Explorer will longer be bundled with Windows when you install the OS, again removing one possible step where you'd start using the browser and get used to it. 

Websites built with Internet Explorer aren't left too far out in the cold, though - the browser has had an IE Mode for a couple of years now, which lets it mimic the older browser to access certain sites and functions. 

That means it's a "gone but not forgotten" situation for Internet Explorer, all in all. Edge is, after all, more than 5 years old already, and has been Microsoft's preferred browser for people for pretty much that entire time.