On Wednesday, tech giant Microsoft officially ended support for Internet Explorer (IE), the web browser that once dominated the market – and even led to an antitrust case that brought on by the United States government.

Internet Explorer launched officially on August 16, 1995. The browser quickly won the “Browser Wars”, a late 1990s competition against Netscape.

Microsoft’s market dominance didn’t last long. Firefox’s 2002 release led to open-source browsers like Google Chrome. Google Chrome was launched in 2008. IE wasn’t over. But, perhaps Sir Winston Churchill would have said that it was just the end. Microsoft realized this and created Edge, an updated browser with more security and functionality that was launched in 2015.

“The demise of IE signifies a kind of formal end to early Internet days when more traffic was generated by accessing and aggregating content than advertisements. Charles King, a technology analyst at Pund-IT, said that Microsoft’s actions around IE (including bundling it together with Windows) led to Microsoft being charged with violating Sherman Antitrust Act.

King stated that although Microsoft avoided being dismantled, the victory it achieved in the Browser Wars’ wasn’t lasting and IE started losing ground to its competitors like Firefox and Google Chrome. King explained that the story of IE’s rise to prominence and subsequent decline to irrelevance is similar to other activities. The ride was fascinating with what would once have seemed a very unlikely end.

Twitter Responses to Browser History

Social media marked Wednesday’s end to official support of IE. Around 100,000 tweets were dedicated to the browser. Some people felt it as if they were losing a dear friend.

Morning Brew, the official twitter account for fin-tech news site Morning Brew (@MorningBrew), posted a picture of Woody from Pixar. The image stated that Woody was “so far partner,” and it added “Goodbyes Are Never Easy.” Microsoft officially shuts down Internet Explorer on Wednesday after 27 years.

Microsoft today announced that it is ending Internet Explorer after nearly 27 years. RIP,” Dexerto (@Dexerto) is a prominent influencer in gaming and esports news sites.

The LizaMinnelliOutlives humor Twitter account (@LiZaOutlives) tweeted that Liza Minnelli had outlived Internet Explorer Browser. Microsoft has officially closed it down after 27 years.

Other people were more harsh in their evaluation of IE’s contribution to browser history.

Malaysian news site MGAG (@My_MGAG), suggested “You will be missed Internet Explorer”, and shared a cartoon that said “It’s time to go Internet Explorer.”

Marques Brownlee, a web producer and video editor (@MKBHD), shared a similar theme, laughing at the joke, tweeting: “Today marks Microsoft’s official end for Internet Explorer.” We will miss you, Chrome’s #1 Installer of all Time.

@mn_google added “Respect++ to Internet Explorer!” He noted that it was impossible to download another browser without IE.

IE Joined The 27 Club – Or Did It?

Despite the fact that the browser didn’t actually make it to its 27th anniversary/birthday, which is still technically two months away, a few users suggested that IE has joined the infamous “27 club” of musicians, artists and actors who died at age 27. Blues singer Robert Johnson, Brian Jones from the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix are among those in the 27 club.

“not [sic]”Internet Explorer joins the 27 Club,” tweeted @mountbellyache

Twitter user @chrisforfree added, “Oh no! IE joined our 27 club!”

Internet Explorer joins the 27 club. Statcounter shows a dramatic drop in desktop IE usage (blue line – we won’t even get into the mobile browser dominance of visits these days). Bye IE, unlike Kurt, Jimi, Jim, Amy et al. Evan Kypreos (@EvanKypreos) remarked, “You didn’t rock me world.”

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@willkanellos said that IE seemed well past its prime “unlike other 27 clubs.”

It appears that IE has been removed from our browser history.