SEOUL:Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT.O) decision to discontinue its Internet Explorer web browser signified the end of a quarter-century love-hate relationship for Jung Ki-young, a South Korean software engineer.
To commemorate Explorer’s passing, he spent a month and 430,000 won ($330) designing and commissioning a headstone with the Explorer “e” emblem and the English epitaph: “He was a good tool to download other browsers.”
After being featured outside his brother’s cafe in the southern city of Gyeongju, a photograph of the tombstone went viral. Microsoft has stopped support for Windows XP after a 27-year run. for the once-omnipresent Internet Explorer on Wednesday in order to focus on its quicker browser, Microsoft Edge.
“It was a pain in the neck, but I’d call it a love-hate relationship because Explorer controlled an age,” says the author.
Explorer worked better than other browsers for websites and online apps.
His customers, on the other hand, repeatedly requesting him to make sure their websites worked well in Internet Explorer, which had long been the default browser in South Korean government offices and many banks.
Explorer, which debuted in 1995 and was packaged with Microsoft’s Windows operating system that came pre-installed in billions of PCs, became the third most respected browser for more than a decade.
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