Microsoft is putting Internet Explorer out to pasture

A commonly heldbelief among heavy web users is that it'sonly acceptable to use Internet Explorer for the purpose of downloading Firefox or Chrome.

Snarky as this sentiment may seem, for many who have purchased a computer running Windows in recent years its also painfully rooted in the fact that Internet Explorer can no longer keep up with its competitors.

Once a market leader with a whopping 95 per cent usage share when it peaked in 2002, Microsofts flagship browser has experienced a steady decline in its user base since Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome hit the scene in 2004 and 2008, respectively.

Today Internet Explorer holds just eight per cent of global internet traffic and a reputation for being the most-hated web browser in existence.

Microsoft had been hinting for years that Internet Explorer would eventually be phased out, but frustrated web developers were never told exactlywhen its twilight years would be over.

This changed Monday when, at long last, the company announced that it would finally be retiring Internet Explorer to replace it with a new browser codenamed Project Spartan.

Were now researching what the new brand, or the new name, for our browser should be in Windows 10," said Microsoft's marketing chief Chris Capossela at the Microsoft Convergence conference Monday. "Well continue to have Internet Explorer, but well also have a new browser called Project Spartan, which is codenamed Project Spartan. We have to name the thing."

Whatever the new browser is called, it will likely have Microsoft in the name according to Capossela, as research in the U.K. found the company's name to have a positive impact on consumer perceptions.

Microsoft has yet to reveal the launch date for its upcoming Windows 10 operating system, but many online are already celebrating the end of Internet Explorers 20-year-long reign of "error."

For those currently using Internet Explorer, fear not your browser won't spontaneously delete itself when Windows 10 is released.

The Verge's Tom Warren reports that Internet Explorer"willstill exist in some versionsof Windows 10 mainly for enterprise compatibility."

That said, the browser resulting fromProject Spartan"will be the primary way for Windows 10 users to access the web."

Rest in peace, Internet Explorer brand. Give our best to Netscape Navigator, and thanks for all the jokes.