Microsoft maintains three different programs browsing on the Windows 10 platform: Internet Explorer 11, the old Browser Microsoft Edge and the new program Microsoft Edge based on Chromium.
Support for the older version of Microsoft Edge expires in March 2021. Microsoft will release a final set of security updates for this program at Patch Day in March before support officially expires.
The company presented its old version Microsoft Edge when it launched Windows 10 in 2015. Microsoft Edge was designed as a state-of-the-art browser with better support for web templates, performance, compatibility and an add-on system.
Although the browser was better than Internet Explorer 11, it had various problems and failed to have a significant market share in desktop systems. Microsoft released the first fixed version of the Microsoft Edge browser based on Chromium in January 2020. At the time, it was clear that the days of the classic Edge were numbered.
So support for the older version of Microsoft Edge expires in March 2021 while Internet Explorer 11 will continue to be supported. The most important reason for supporting the latter is some capabilities on which many organizations and companies still rely.
The new Edge (Chromium) supports an Internet Explorer feature that facilitates access to content that requires features supported by Internet Explorer 11.
Microsoft, however, slowly began to cut off access to some of the company's tools from Internet Explorer, e.g. Access to Microsoft Teams was blocked in November 2020 and access to Microsoft 365 will expire in August 2021 for browser users.
Windows 10 users who are still using the old version of Microsoft Edge will need to find a new browser.
Microsoft has not said it has plans to remove the old Edge from Windows 10. One possible scenario is that future versions of Windows 10 will no longer include the old version of Microsoft Edge, so the old version will eventually be removed.
