New Delhi: Microsoft Corp.’s decision to discontinue its Internet Explorer web browser signified the end of a quarter-century love-hate relationship with the technology for Jung Ki-young, a South Korean software developer.
To commemorate its downfall, he went through a month and 430,000 won ($330) planning and requesting a tombstone with Explorer’s “e” symbol and the English tribute: “He was a great instrument to download other browsers.”
A photo of the tombstone went viral after it was shown in a cafe managed by his brother in the southern city of Gyeongju.
After a 27-year run, Microsoft ended support for the once-omnipresent Internet Explorer on Wednesday in order to focus on its quicker browser, Microsoft Edge.
The tribute, Jung said, reflected his conflicting sentiments about the older software, which had played such a significant role in his professional life.
“It was a pain in the ass,” he told Reuters, “but I would call it a love-hate relationship because Explorer once controlled an age.”
He claimed that testing his websites and online apps on Explorer took him longer than testing them on other browsers.
His customers, on the other hand, constantly requested him to make sure their websites looked nice with Internet Explorer, which had long been the default browser in South Korean government offices and many banks.
Microsoft Internet Explorer, which was released in 1995 and was bundled with Microsoft’s Windows operating system, became the world’s most popular browser for more than a decade. It is pre-installed on billions of computers.
However, in the late 2000s, it began to lose ground to Google’s Chrome, and it became the target of numerous internet jokes, with some developers claiming it was sluggish in comparison to its competitors.
Jung said he intended for the gravestone to make people laugh, but he was nonetheless amazed at how far the prank spread online.
“Another reason I thank the Explorer is that it has now enabled me to make a world-class joke,” he explained.
I’m sorry it’s gone, but I won’t miss it. So retirement is a wonderful death for me. “
