RIP Internet Explorer: Web reacts to browser's demise

Microsoft's Internet Explorer project manager has indicated that a rebranding of the browser, launched in 1995, is under discussion.

The Internet reacted with a mixture of glee, sarcasm and a little sadness this week after Microsoft revealed plans to retire its much-maligned Internet Explorer web browser.

Microsoft says it's in the process of developing a new web browser, temporarily titled Project Spartan, which is slated to launch with its upcoming Windows 10 operating system. The yet-unnamed browser is expected to offer a lighter, more efficient interface that's more in line with current trends.

The 20-year-old Internet Explorer brand is expected to fall by the wayside, though it won't be discontinued entirely. Microsoft is expected to make it available online for users who have applications or tools specifically rooted in the browser's functionality.

Once the de facto standard for Windows users, Internet Explorer started losing its grip on the web browser market in the early 2000s as alternatives like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome emerged. Now, Microsoft appears ready to cast off the Explorer brand and start fresh.

Internet Explorer launched in 1995 and went into widespread use a year later, when Microsoft bundled version 2.0 of the browser with its Windows 95 platform. In 2006, Microsoft shipped out its wildly popular Windows XP operating system with Internet Explorer 6.0 built in, cementing the browser's hold on the market.

But Internet Explorer eventually hit a wall. Microsoft waited eight years to release a major update for the browser, and in that time, open-source competitors such as Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome emerged to steal large chunks of the web-browsing market.

Current estimates vary widely, but Internet Explorer has certainly fallen out of top spot for most popular web-browsing platforms.

The Internet education website W3Schools says 62.5 per cent of the world's population used Chrome last month, while 22.9 per cent used Firefox and eight per cent used Internet Explorer.

That's a stark change from 10 years ago, when Internet Explorer dominated with 74.5 per cent of the market in January 2005.

The browser tracking website StatCounter has different numbers from February 2015, but those numbers still look bad for Internet Explorer. Chrome led the StatCounter results with 52.27 per cent of the market share among desktop computer users, followed by Internet Explorer at 20.75 per cent and Firefox at 18.22 per cent.

Whatever the percentage, Internet Explorer is clearly no longer the titan it once was.

Many Twitter users responded to the Internet Explorer news by ridiculing it as "the best browser to download another browser." Others mocked it for its perceived lack of speed and wished it "good riddance."

While most people were more than happy to see Internet Explorer headed for the Recycle Bin, a few were sad to see it go.

Microsoft hasn't unveiled the final name for Internet Explorer's replacement, but the Spartan codename may hint at the project's future.

The name comes from "Halo," the popular Microsoft video game franchise. The series protagonist is a superhuman "Spartan," a genetically-engineered soldier who fights aliens with the help of his computer assistant, an artificial intelligence construct called Cortana.

Microsoft introduced a "real" version of Cortana last year in the form of a digital personal assistant for Windows Phone 8.1 users. Cortana is designed to verbally respond to questions and commands from the user in much the same way that Apple's Siri program works on iOS devices.

The Cortana software is slated to be part of the upcoming Windows 10 release. Will Microsoft keep the "Halo" theme going with the name of its upcoming browser?