Microsoft to phase out IE11

Attention: Microsoft has announced that it will stop supporting Internet Explorer 11 (“IE11”) on August 17, 2021. This comes on the heels of Microsoft Teams ending support for IE11 last November.

Why this is important: Microsoft is beginning to phase out IE11. At some point, after the End-Of-Life (“EOL”) of IE11, it will no longer receive security patches and become vulnerable. (Please note: this is not to be confused with the newer Chromium-based Edge browser, which is still supported.) 

Given the limited use of IE11, e.g., ~1% of users access the internet using this browser, the expected impact is relatively low. 

As such, we will be phasing out support and quality assurance testing on the older, non-Chromium Microsoft Edge. We will begin phasing out IE11 testing in the coming months, and cease all IE11 testing on July 31, 2021

Requests for IE11-related issues will no longer be considered non-billable bug fixes, and any IE11 issues or updates will be billable. This includes IE Mode in Edge, which will no longer be supported for websites or RubyLaw. Issues found in Edge will continue to be considered non-billable bug fixes. 

What you can do to prepare: Please review the above with your internal teams to ensure your firm has an IE11 strategy. This includes plans to update to Edge (or other browsers prior to July 31, 2021). It’s likely that your internal IT teams are already aware of this and planning accordingly. (This may include use of IE Mode in Edge to run internal software dependent on IE11.) Being unprepared, though, can potentially affect your firm’s day-to-day operations.

If your website does not currently support the most recent version of Edge, our team can run an audit to bring it up-to-date.

Please note: After July 31, 2021, any IE11-related issues will be considered billable, as RubensteinTech will focus on more widely used and modern browsers. 

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns by emailing our Client Experience team at support@rubensteintech.com

For more information on this matter, please visit the following:
Microsoft will bid farewell to Internet Explorer and legacy Edge in 2021
Lifecycle FAQ: Internet Explorer and Edge
Azure DevOps Services to end support for Internet Explorer 11 and legacy version of Microsoft Edge
Lifecycle Terms and Definitions
Browser Market Share Worldwide: January 2021
RubensteinTech Client Alert: 2020-01
Microsoft Edge: Download