Microsoft Twins Edge with Office 365 to Encourage Adoption

Internet Explorer History — Fer Gregory/Shutterstock

Although keeping all of your software up to date is perhaps the best way to remain safe online, the most important of the lot is arguably the browser, as older versions have a lot of security flaws that have been patched up in more contemporary iterations. With that in mind, Microsoft is giving its users a nudge to adopt the Edge browser over older Internet Explorer standards.

This is something Microsoft has done for years, but not in this manner. It has now updated the recommended specifications for its Office 365 subscription service, stating that the Edge browser is recommended. It doesn’t go so far as to block the usage of IE 8 and 9, but it does make a very strong suggestion that the user should drop them and move on to Edge.

“Office 365 is designed to work with the latest version of the Microsoft Edge browser. Microsoft Edge browser updates are available through the Windows Servicing branches. Office 365 might continue to work with versions of the Edge browser older than the latest branch, but Office 365 can’t provide any guarantees,” it reads (as per Winbeta).

Again, although not mandatory, it may be that Office 365 doesn’t operate at peak performance or with all of its latest features if the Edge browser is not installed. And that may not be all that is limited in the future too, as it’s certainly possible that after a certain point, Microsoft may stop supporting the older IE browser altogether.

The same will likely be true for other Microsoft software in the future too, whether it’s OneDrive, Sharepoint, Office Online, or a number of other services and features. There’s a good chance that in order to preserve certain security standards, Microsoft may drop its support for older browsers.

Which browsers do you currently run? Do you like Microsoft’s Edge?

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