To commemorate the end of Internet Explorer on June 15, South Korean software engineer Jung Ki-young paid 430,000 won ($330) designing and ordering a headstone bearing the famous ’e’ logo, the dates it existed, and the fitting epitaph “He was a good tool to download other browsers.” The phrase will likely be familiar to fans of Rick and Morty memes.
Jung told Reuters that he had mixed feelings toward the browser that played such a big part in his working life. “It was a pain in the ass, but I would call it a love-hate relationship because Explorer itself once dominated an era,” he said. Jung explained that it took him longer to ensure his websites and apps were compatible with Explorer than with other browsers. But customers kept asking him if their sites looked good on Microsoft’s software, which was used extensively among South Korean businesses for years.
The headstone went on display on the rooftop of a café run by Jung’s brother in the southern city of Gyeongju. Not only is Internet Explorer no longer supported on certain versions of Windows 10, but Microsoft will also push out an update that removes it from Win 10 devices altogether, redirecting users to Edge if they try to access the app. That’s bad news for the near 50% of businesses that still use the browser. IE will live on through Internet Explorer mode in Microsoft Edge until 2029, or January 2023 if you’re still on Windows 8.1 or Windows 7’s Extended Security Updates.
