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    Internet Explorer Is Finally Being Killed After Years Of Merciless Mockery

    Internet Explorer. How we mocked you.

    Remember Internet Explorer (IE), the browser that used to rule the web? Microsoft is killing the brand and moving on with a new browser codenamed "Project Spartan".

    It used to have a 80% market share in the US – but after the emergence of other, faster, more modern browsers, it became the subject of relentless internet mockery.

    Google's Chrome browsers are now the most popular in U.S., passing Internet Explorer. http://t.co/M8v7DPS95g $GOOG

    IE will still exist in some versions of Windows 10, but that's about it.

    A whole generation came to know IE by clicking on it accidentally. And when you did, it wanted only one thing.

    There was always the real risk that this could bring your PC to a grinding halt.

    IE offered quite a good way of filtering people into two camps: people who still used it and the rest of humanity.

    But then Firefox came along and it was all fancy and customisable.

    And then it was a straight fight between Firefox and Chrome, with IE sat idly in the corner.

    At this point IE's only practical use was to spell out "PENIS" using desktop shortcuts.

    It had become a pariah of the world's desktops.

    Something to be feared.

    In the last five years, IE's main use has been to download other browsers. As Urban Dictionary puts it:

    Like this.

    Even porn sites were taking the mickey.

    IE just didn't fit into this new world.

    Once mighty, it had become a figure of fun.

    Still, some people have insisted on using IE to the bitter end and STILL use it to this day.

    There are IE fans out there and they are not ashamed.

    Maybe there's something powerful we can learn from IE's dogged determination.

    Pity the web developers had to use IE to make sure that their sites worked on it.

    A lot of people's parents doggedly stuck to IE, much to their children's disbelief.

    Presumably Microsoft's decision would have happened sooner, but as we all know, IE takes years to shut down.