Version number 11 of Microsoft Internet Explorer was launched more than 8 years ago, in mid-2013. Just two years later, Microsoft left behind its historic and controversial browser in favor of the first generation of Microsoft Edge (retired, in turn, in January 2020).
And yet we continue to find web pages “optimized for Internet Explorer 11” or that, even, they force the use of said browser to be able to access the functionalities of an online platform. This, which is already problematic in itself, is still more serious when we realize that those who usually incur these practices are public institutions or public law entities.
An example of this would be the telematics platform of the College of Registrars of Spain – which givesaccess to online registration procedures as relevant as the Mercantile Registry, the Property Registry,, etc.— and whose function of “telematic presentation of documents is only available in Internet Explorer 11 or higher versions” (sic: as we have already said, this version was the last version of this browser).
Since very recent dates, it does offer the option of using a ‘beta’ version (compatible with all browsers, as it should be), but with functions still limited.
But, how is it understood that such a fundamental platform for so many legally unavoidable bureaucratic processes is optimized for a completely outdated browser (even in the eyes of the company that developed it) and that it is only available to a decreasing percentage of users of a single operating system?
In Spain there are still sites such as the Mercantile Registry that for some procedures force you to use “Internet Explorer 11 or higher” #Edge #IE #InternetExplorer pic.twitter.com/pxF9Q2GeHB
– Guillermo Gozalbes 💾🌍 (@GuillermoVersus) August 9, 2021
But the web technicians of the College of Registrars is not the only one who ignores the two generations of Edge that have already succeeded the overthrown Internet Explorer 11, the page of ‘Technical requirements’ of the very same Electronic Office of the General State Administration also recommends “Internet Explorer, superior to version 11.0” (good luck with that) as a recommended browser for the correct functioning of your platform:
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Internet Explorer, an endangered species
Since June of this year, even Microsoft’s own web applications (with Microsoft 365 at the helm) are no longer officially compatible with Internet Explorer 11 (Some, like Microsoft Teams, already had been for half a year).
And, from that moment on, he started running the countdown for the application to permanently disappear from our computers (via Windows updates) in Summer 2022.
Nothing unexpected, considering that IE11 had long been classified by Microsoft as not a “web browser”, but as a mere “compatibility fix”:
“If you are a web developer working on a modern website or application, we know that you have been waiting for this day for a long time. Internet Explorer has been increasingly difficult to support in parallel with modern browsers.”
Microsoft then encouraged not to wait until the last minute to make the transition to the new browser, and recalled a little-known fact: that the current Microsoft Edge includes an ‘Internet Explorer mode’ that provides compatibility with websites specifically designed for older versions of IE (including functionalities such as ActiveX controls).