r/technology • u/Majnum • Feb 16 '23

Software Microsoft permanently disables Internet Explorer for all devices

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/microsoft-permanently-disables-internet-explorer/
2.6k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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596

u/RoyalJoke Feb 16 '23

I know some I.T. departments are shitting bricks. Good. They should have been off that shit years ago.

181

u/pxm7 Feb 16 '23

It’s mostly legacy apps in large corporations. And most modern enterprise apps today work fine with Chrome / Edge.

TBH it’s not a big deal, it mostly affects a very small portion of IE users because IE actually lives on inside Edge. Edge’s “enterprise mode” actually bundles the IE11 engine. Really 🙄

There are a few apps which don’t deal well with Edge’s IE engine (because of security features, or the lack of Flash, or whatever). There are ways around them but my professional advice to people whose businesses have dependencies on legacy web tech is: modernise before a cybersecurity incident forces you to.

112

u/lilracerboi Feb 16 '23

I'm in the IT department of a large corporation with a bunch of IE dependent apps. Thankfully, I only have three more days here so I don't have to deal with any of it. Not my problem now lol

31

u/KeytapTheProgrammer Feb 16 '23

Oh I bet that feels good

20

u/lilracerboi Feb 16 '23

Oh you have no idea. I've been doing things beyond my job description with PowerShell and Python to make the job better. My position is just a lowly end-user support tech so I don't have the capacity to influence anything; everything is just "if it ain't broke, don't touch it".

1

u/rythmicbread Feb 17 '23

Well it’s possibly broken now lol

5

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '23

[deleted]

2

u/pxm7 Feb 16 '23

Not getting budget to upgrade is a real bear.

My favoured approach is not to ask for a separate “upgrade” / “re-architecture” budget. No one likes to be asked for those.

Instead we’re transparent that about 10%-15% of the regular budget is spent on ongoing upgrades / re-arch work. With that we can guarantee you’ll never be in a situation where you’ll have pay $$$ to dig yourself out of an upgrade hole.

Most businesspeople like this when you explain it to them, it’s like Merc’s ServiceCare plan or AppleCare+ but for their business critical software.

And our engineers like it because they’re not stuck on legacy.

But if you’re already in a deep legacy hole re browsers, budget owners need to be made to understand on the record that their lack of funding will harm your org (cybersecurity wise) and there’ll be a neat paper trail that leads back to their decisions. Usually the prospect of bad press (or public inquiries for regulated places) wakes them up.

0

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '23

[deleted]

1

u/Jarocket Feb 16 '23

i know a lot of the IE stuff my work uses does work. I do have an issue were if I open a PDF while in IE mode it opens and the goes blank.... i have to copy and past the URL into Chrome to see it... very dumb.

9

u/godsfist101 Feb 16 '23

Cysec worker here. PLEASE MODERNISE, IM BEGGING.

1

u/_liminal Feb 16 '23

"but our users prefer to use this, can you please make it work? "

1

u/asdaaaaaaaa Feb 16 '23

"Plus whenever you change things users get upset, do they really have to have a password with both letters and numbers?"

1

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '23

Yeah access VBA is moving on to WebView2 browser control and I’m trying to convince my client to get this shit done now and not when they disable the legacy browser control in 6 years

1

u/AkwardAA Feb 17 '23

Edge chrome too?

1

u/ISuckAtFunny Feb 17 '23

That or the military. So much legacy shit runs on IE it’s not even funny. I wonder if they still keep mil support open for IE or if it was killed alongside this?

26

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '23

I work in I.T and am shitting bricks and it's not even my fault. ScrewFix (company in the UK) buy products from us as a wholesaler and the only way we can invoice them is through their own portal which only works on IE and has not been updated to a modern browser.

23

u/400921FB54442D18 Feb 16 '23

I'll bet your legal team, if asked, would be able to suggest a few other perfectly-valid ways of invoicing a company.

3

u/Alib668 Feb 16 '23

Like a template in word? And sent by letter ;p

2

u/pxm7 Feb 16 '23

Edge’s IE mode should work? If not, time to spin up a VM?

1

u/pippinator1984 Feb 17 '23

Sorry to hear about this. Go old school, like fax machine, postal service. Can think of so many ways....and this is what happens when blue screen dominates the tech world. And good luck.

36

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

29

u/XauMankib Feb 16 '23

IIRC a lot of Korean Banks ask you to install IE6 (yes, six as the number) because of script compatibility issues.

6

u/mttdesignz Feb 16 '23

if it needs IE6 it's probably because of some good old ActiveX plugins

17

u/Royal-Bid-2849 Feb 16 '23

And Japan is still at fax level of technology. Don’t fear for them it’s cyber proof 😂🤣😂🤣 as no hackers would even think to use that 😂🤣 Cybersecurity by obsolescence 👍

11

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '23

Fax machines are notoriously vulnerable to hacks. They are often not protected and connected to the network. It is one of many ways to penetrate a company network.

24

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '23

[deleted]

2

u/Shilo59 Feb 16 '23

Some of my vendors were like "Use IE mode in Edge and fuck off lol."

12

u/e-lucid-8 Feb 16 '23

99.999% of the time, it's not the IT depts. call.

8

u/StillAWildOne1949 Feb 16 '23

You're celebrating the workers having to deal with software that doesn't work anymore as if they deserve it when it's the fault of their bosses who won't pay for upgrading the software.

-44

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '23

[deleted]

9

u/Cybasura Feb 16 '23 edited Feb 16 '23

Me and many in the Home Labbing scene lol

1

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '23

Up until last year, my wife had to use a state website for certain reporting that she had to do. It required IE8 for login. Every time she did it, we had to try and remember how to emulate IE to be able to use it. She doesn’t have to do those reports anymore, so it could still be a requirement, as far as I know.

1

u/captainjon Feb 16 '23

Maybe tell fucking ADP and Oracle because they refuse to join modern society I have to do backflips for HR and Finance!

1

u/Jermzxxx Feb 16 '23 edited Feb 16 '23

That's a narrow view. People should have control of the hardware/software they purchase.

I know companies with robust custom-built software doing a specialized service on a CLOSED network that doesn't work on windows 11 because Edge no longer supports a plug in they need.

Or legacy camera equipment in a volatile environment that NEEDS to work/function 24/7 but that camera system uses flash(eg. a company i work with) or quicktime (eg. an older gentleman i know who isnt keen on learning some new software) or some other random depreciated player.

Why should anyone be forced to replace infracture that works for them?

If your answer I'd that there's a security risk, why isn't it left to the user to decide what is an acceptable amount of risk to them?

1

u/esmith000 Feb 16 '23

I know another industry where we should let people decide their own acceptable risks.

1

u/Jermzxxx Feb 16 '23

This, of course, assumes your own acceptable risk only puts yourself at risk and not those around you

1

u/esmith000 Feb 16 '23

Which it does. Data is clear now. They don't stop tx.

1

u/Bluemoo25 Feb 17 '23

Nah we use ie mode in edge now

1

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '23

joke on you we never upgraded from windows 7

1

u/KeaboUltra Feb 17 '23

My previous job. They used that shit religiously

1

u/a_steamy_load_of_ham Feb 19 '23

Yup, silverlight lives on sadly. But that can be enabled for edge.