Chris Jackson, a Microsoft security expert at Microsoft, described in an article what he calls “Dangers of using Internet Explorer as his default browser“. According to Statcounter, worldwide, less than 3% use IE in the machine.
For the average user, accustomed to Google Chrome (61%), Safari (15%) and Firefox (5%), will be no problem. Several companies, however, still rely on Internet Explorer for older sites that have not been upgraded, which Jackson called “technical debt.” As a result, using IE as default is the “solution”.
In Windows 10, which comes with Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer 11 uses an Enterprise Mode for IT administrators to tell you which websites to open in IE in Compatibility View. It’s useful because sometimes the sites do not look the way they look: pictures may not appear, menus may be out of place, and the whole text messed up. Home users can also activate the function.
Released in 1995 though, IE should not be the standard on the computer, but just to download browser of your own choice.
“Internet Explorer is a compatibility solution”, says Jackson, not a browser that businesses must use daily for browsing activity.
“Although many sites work well, developers are not currently testing Internet Explorer today. They are testing on modern browsers”.
According to the expert, if Microsoft continued to work with compatibility, the IT team would end up in a scenario where, optimizing what they have, they would not be able to use new apps as they are released.
Some sites that only open in compatibility mode are imposed by the government and you can not do anything about it. Continuing to use IE (or developing for it), however, will lead to a dilemma between ease and loss of resources in a browser that is incompatible with everything but what is needed (on .gov sites, usually).
Microsoft Edge was also not available in Windows 7 or Windows 8 (or 8.1), complicating things. But Microsoft is working on a version of Microsoft Edge with Chromium, unlinked from Windows 10 and companies will be able to install on Windows 7 or Windows 8 (which they still use) when needed.