Microsoft expands anti-IE tack, compels 1,000 websites to open in Edge
Microsoft will amp up its damnation of Web Explorer (IE) and solidify that very aged browser’s second-rate standing by quickly forcibly redirecting greater than a thousand web sites to the a lot newer Edge.
In response to an Oct. 19 assist doc, as of the discharge of Edge 87 — anticipated Nov. 17-19 — IE will refuse to render a whole bunch of web sites, routinely closing the tab in IE after which displaying a message asserting that they do not work within the out of date browser.
At that time, the identical URL will likely be opened in an Edge tab and the person will likely be prompted to make Edge the default browser from a banner beneath the handle discipline.
Different retailers, together with Bleeping Pc, have reported on the brand new IE redirections.
“When a person goes to a web site that’s incompatible with Web Explorer, they are going to be routinely redirected to Microsoft Edge,” the assist doc acknowledged. Microsoft maintains the record of IE-incompatible web sites. The present record tops a thousand particular person websites, together with apple.com, drive.google.com, fb.com, goducks.com, kroger.com and twitter.com.
This redirection is separate from the IE mode constructed into Edge. The pressured redirection happens solely when utilizing the stand-alone IE11. Managed PCs, Microsoft reminded IT directors within the assist doc, ought to be configured to make use of IE mode to “let your customers load websites in Web Explorer mode.”
The lengthy IE goodbye
The brand new redirecting — a harsher phrase for it is perhaps “hijacking” — is of a bit with adjustments Microsoft introduced two months in the past. On the time, the Redmond, Wash. firm promised an Aug. 17, 2021 finish to assist of IE11 by the Microsoft 365 apps and companies. Additionally on the calendar: Microsoft Groups will drop assist for IE on Nov. 30, 2020.
Ending some assist for IE11 strengthened Microsoft’s positioning of the browser as appropriate just for working well-worn apps and rendering creaky intranet websites. So did this newest transfer. The blocked web sites could the truth is be incompatible with IE11 — though customers must belief Microsoft that that is so — however they’re undoubtedly not from an intranet, not the final URLs like youtube.com or espn.com that compose the record.
By Microsoft’s pondering, IE should not be used to go to such websites. The distinction is that now the corporate is forcing that pondering on everybody.
Properly, not actually everybody. Because it nearly at all times does, Microsoft has left loopholes for enterprise IT. A number of group insurance policies will likely be out there to, for instance, configure the person expertise of the positioning redirection or disable the redirection completely.
The three insurance policies have been added to the group coverage template updates; in keeping with Microsoft, they can even be out there in Intune no later than Nov. 8.
(Details about the pertinent group insurance policies will be discovered right here.)
Copyright © 2020 IDG Communications, Inc.
