January 12th, 2016 is the day that Microsoft stopped supporting their popular Internet Explorer web browser nearly 25 years after it was launched.
Despite this end of service, there are a few companies that still cling to its web functionality. The thing that made Internet Explorer popular was its versatility to manipulate the end users computer using things like Adobe Flash. This also made this browser famously susceptible to bugs, viruses, keyloggers, trojans, spam, pop ups, and other nasty surprises.
Those exploits are still contained in its code but most of the Internet Explorer users have long since moved on to browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari just to name a few. Many websites no longer require the type of risky add-ons that made Internet Explorer popular like Adobe Flash. And most of the industry has adopted a open-source type of code that makes your browser faster and safer.
As for the industry laggards that continue to use Internet Explorer, they may soon face issues. Some new thin and light devices don't run a version of Windows that supports Internet Explorer and instead many users are now being redirected to use Microsofts newer 'Edge' browser which uses a source code based on Google's Chrome browser.
With faster and safer browser options, hopefully our commercial folks will finally put the Internet Explorer to rest for good.