終於要退休了！微軟將於明年終止支援IE瀏覽器

IE瀏覽器從當年的獨霸市場，到跌下神壇，再到如今幾乎沒人再用，26歲高齡的它壽終正寢只是時間問題。近日，微軟終於宣佈，將於2022年6月15日終止對IE瀏覽器的支援。

Credit: Microsoft

The end is finally near for Internet Explorer, one of Microsoft's most-reviled products that refused to die. Microsoft announced this week that it will end support for Internet Explorer 11 on June 15, 2022.

微軟最招人恨卻又不肯退出歷史舞臺的IE瀏覽器終於要走到盡頭了。微軟本週宣佈，將於2022年6月15日終止對IE11瀏覽器的支援。

In August 2020, Microsoft turned its back on IE for its own products. Workplace chat software Teams stopped working with IE last fall, and its 365 apps (including Office) will no longer work on IE by mid-summer 2021.

2020年8月，微軟自己的產品開始棄用IE瀏覽器。去年秋天微軟職場聊天軟體Teams不再和IE瀏覽器相容，明年仲夏起包括Office在內的微軟365個應用也將不再支援IE瀏覽器。

Once the most-used web browser, Internet Explorer had been on a steady downward trajectory for nearly two decades. Its share of the browser market fell below the 50% threshold in 2010 and now sits at about 5%, according to browser usage tracker NetMarketShare. Google's Chrome is the browser leader, commanding a 69% share of the market.

IE瀏覽器曾經是應用最廣泛的網路瀏覽器，但近二十年來使用量一直不斷下降。瀏覽器使用量追蹤機構NetMarketShare 的資料顯示，2010年IE在瀏覽器市場的份額跌破50%大關，如今只剩下5%的份額。谷歌瀏覽器是瀏覽器中的領頭羊，佔據了69%的市場份額。

In its death announcement, Microsoft said Internet Explorer is slow, no longer practical for or compatible with many modern web tasks, and is far less secure than modern browsers.

在這份「死亡聲明」中，微軟表示，IE瀏覽器速度太慢，已經不適用也不兼容於許多現代網路任務，也遠不如現代瀏覽器安全。

Yet IE has miraculously managed to stick around for 26 years. Microsoft has continued to ship IE with Windows to ensure that corporate apps keep functioning properly. Corporations tend to be very slow to adopt new browser versions, particularly if they custom-build applications for them.

然而IE瀏覽器已經奇蹟般地挺過了26年。微軟繼續在Windows系統中內建IE瀏覽器，確保企業的軟體能夠正常運行。企業接受新版瀏覽器的速度通常都很慢，尤其是那些定製應用和瀏覽器相容的企業。

Most Windows 10 PC owners probably never noticed that IE is installed on their computers. Edge, Microsoft's modern browser, is based on Google's open source Chrome code, and has gained much more traction than IE in recent years.

大多數Windows 10個人電腦使用者很可能從未注意到自己的電腦安裝了IE瀏覽器。微軟基於谷歌Chrome開原始碼的現代瀏覽器Edge近年來的受歡迎程度已經遠超IE。

It's unclear if Microsoft will stop installing IE on Windows PCs by default once the company discontinues support for IE, although that would be likely. Microsoft's latest version of the Edge browser supports web apps built for IE so customers don't have to keep switching between browsers. So IE has at long last outlived its usefulness.

在微軟終止對IE的支援後，尚不清楚微軟是否會停止在Windows個人電腦上預設安裝IE瀏覽器，不過可能性比較大。微軟最新版本的Edge瀏覽器支援和IE相容的網路應用程式，這樣使用者就不必在不同的瀏覽器之間切換。所以IE瀏覽器最終還是失去了用途。

Internet Explorer debuted in 1995 as part of Windows 95 and became an instant hit. It successfully killed off Netscape Navigator, and it achieved a virtual monopoly in the early 2000s. At its 2002 peak, Internet Explorer commanded 95% of the browser market.

IE瀏覽器於1995年伴隨著Windows 95電腦推出，推出後曾轟動一時，成功幹掉了網景導航者瀏覽器，並在21世紀初達到了實質性的壟斷地位。在2002年的巔峰期，IE佔據了95%的瀏覽器市場份額。

But Microsoft failed to innovate, essentially leaving Internet Explorer 6 alone to gather dust and cobwebs for five years. That frustrated customers and sent them fleeing for greener pastures. Internet Explorer became synonymous with bugs, security problems and outdated technology.

但是微軟沒能革新瀏覽器，長達五年時間把IE6瀏覽器晾在一邊讓其自生自滅。對此感到絕望的使用者紛紛改用更好的瀏覽器。IE成為了缺陷、安全問題和過時技術的同義詞。

Microsoft finally released IE7 in 2006, but the damage was done. Microsoft paved the way for Firefox and then Chrome to surpass it.

2006年，微軟終於推出了IE7瀏覽器，但是局面已難以挽回。微軟親手為火狐和谷歌瀏覽器超越自己鋪平了道路。

The company tried to revitalize IE: With Internet Explorer 9 in 2011, Microsoft finally released a modern browser. Still, to this day IE still doesn't support extensions, isn't available on non-Windows devices and doesn't sync with other devices by default — all mainstays of Chrome and Firefox.

2011年，試圖復興IE的微軟終於推出了一款現代瀏覽器IE9。然而，時至今日IE依然不支援擴展程式，不能在非Windows裝置上使用，而且預設不能和其他裝置相容，而這些都是谷歌和火狐瀏覽器的強項。

Microsoft acknowledges that IE isn't ideal for web browsing.

微軟承認，IE不是理想的網路瀏覽器。

"Customers have been using IE 11 since 2013 when the online environment was much less sophisticated than the landscape today," the company said last August. "Since then, open web standards and newer browsers — like the new Microsoft Edge — have enabled better, more innovative online experiences."

微軟去年八月表示：「自從2013年以來，使用者一直在用IE11瀏覽器，那時候的網路環境遠沒有現在這麼複雜。如今，開放的網路標準和更新的瀏覽器（比如新的Microsoft Edge瀏覽器）可以提供更好、更新穎的網路體驗。」

That's why, for the past five years, Microsoft has been trying — unsuccessfully — to kill Internet Explorer.

這就是為什麼過去五年來微軟一直在試圖讓IE瀏覽器退休，但是沒有成功。

Microsoft's Internet Explorer engineers acknowledged in 2014 that the company was considering a name change to "separate ourselves from negative perceptions" about the browser.

微軟的IE工程師曾在2014年承認，微軟正在考慮更改瀏覽器的名字，以「擺脫人們對IE的負面印象」。

Instead, Microsoft developed a whole new browser, releasing Edge in 2015. But Edge didn't actually replace IE. Internet Explorer to this day is pre-installed on Windows PCs alongside Edge.

結果就是，微軟研發出了一款全新的瀏覽器，並於2015年推出了Edge。但是Edge並沒有在實際上取代IE。時至今日Windows個人電腦上預裝的瀏覽器除了Edge外，依然還有IE。

對於IE瀏覽器的壽終正寢，國內網友是什麼反應呢？一起來看看：

英文來源：美國有線電視新聞網

翻譯&編輯：丹妮

來源：中國日報網