With the deadline of January 2016 reached, earlier versions of Internet Explorer have now stopped receiving security updates and technical support. Though Microsoft has stopped supporting older versions of Internet Explorer, this does not mean that they have stopped working. which leaves the remaining users of IE 7, 8, 9 and 10 considerably more vulnerable to malicious attacks and exploitative malware. Users are being encouraged to upgrade their browser to the latest version available on their operating system or to upgrade their operating system all together.
Even if this is not a complete end-of-life for older versions of Internet Explorer, it does bring developers considerably closer to the day they can stop testing their applications against older browsers. Just the removal of support for these older browsers will allow developers to use CSS styles such as vw (view width), vh(view height), 2D Transforms, 3D Transforms, Transitions and media queries without having to put in place backup styles for out-dated browsers, resulting in a richer experience for users of the web.
Microsoft’s new browser Edge is likely to be the upgrade choice for the majority of users upgrading from the now unsupported versions of Internet Explorer. Edge is considered to be much more secure than previous Internet Explorer releases and is accompanied by many new extensions and features such as annotations which allow users to add text boxes, handwritten notes or drawings, highlight sections and copy areas of the current page which can then be saved to OneNote or shared in various ways. There are of course other options for users wanting to upgrade away from Internet Explorer - Firefox and Chrome will be the major competitors for both Edge and Internet Explorer 11 as users upgrade or transition away from their current browser.