RIP Internet Explorer,How We Mocked You1

By Tim Moynihan

Microsoft is phasing out the web browser, in name at least,apparently to shake off negative connotations.2phase out： 逐步废止；browser： 浏览器；shake off： 摆脱；connotation： 隐含意义。

Instead it wants a fresh start for the new browser being baked into Windows 10, codenamed Project Spartan.3bake into： 此处指内置于……；codename： v.以……为代号；Project Spartan： 斯巴达浏览器。Microsoft is still deciding on a name, according to The Verge4The Verge： 一家美国科技媒体网站，提供新闻、产品评论、播客、视频等内容。.

Losing IE will feel for many like the end of an era.

Born in 1995, early Windows users first got to know Internet Explorer 1.0 in August. Over the next 20 years, 11 versions were released. At the peak of its popularity, Internet Explorer dominated the web. It was responsible for 95 percent of all website visits. Love it or loathe it, the iconic blue “e” was part of our lives.5loathe： 厌恶，憎恶；iconic： 著名且有象征意义的，典型的。

Back in those days when instead of Googling things, we asked Jeeves6Jeeves： 指Ask Jeeves，是一个由人工操作目录索引的美国著名搜索引擎，搜索时，它首先给出的是数据库中可能存在的答案，然后才是网站链接。…

All computer images looked like pixelated clipart7pixilated： 像素化的；clipart： 剪贴艺术。...

We got to know its quirks, accepting its bugs as simply a part of life...8quirk： 古怪行为，怪癖；bug： （计算机系统或程序中的）缺陷，漏洞。

Then in 2004, Mozilla Firefox9Mozilla Firefox： 火狐浏览器。came along. It brought along customization, private browsing and extensions.10customization： 定制；extensions： 扩展。In browsing terms,it was a mover and shaker, especially as IE began to be plagued by serious security concerns.11在搜索词条方面，火狐浏览器具有相当的影响力，尤其这时IE浏览器正开始遭受严重的安全问题。mover and shaker： 有权势的人，有影响的人；plague： v. 使烦恼，困扰。Spyware, adware, and computer viruses used vulnerabilities in the way IE was set up to install itself on users’computers.12间谍软件、广告软件以及计算机病毒利用了IE在用户计算机上安装时所产生的漏洞。vulnerability：脆弱性，此处指漏洞。

近日微软官方证实，IE浏览器品牌将会就此终结，取而代之的将是Windows 10内置浏览器“Project Spartan”。对于很多人来说，IE的终结更像是一个时代的终结，尽管我们一直在黑它，失去的时候却还不免伤感。谨以此文纪念那些年我们嘲笑过的IE。

There was a security scandal in 2006 when it was discovered it was possible for rogue websites13rogue website： 欺诈网站。to steal information or take control of users’ computers. In 2008,the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) recommended turning off the ActiveX controls inside IE because of security concerns.14CERT： 计算机紧急预备小组；ActiveX control： ActiveX控件，是一系列软件组件或对象，可以将其插入到网页或其它应用程序中。

In August 2014, CERT told users to ditch IE entirely until it was patched.15ditch： 抛弃；丢弃；patch： 缝补，此处指修复。Not good.

By then, Chrome was on the scene.16Chrome： 谷歌浏览器；on the scene： 出现。It arrived in 2008, lightweight and speedy with countless extensions and “apps” (often just websites) available from the Chrome store. Quickly it powered its way to dominance—it has 51% usage share worldwide according to StatCounter17StatCounter： 美国一家网站通讯流量监测机构，提供各种类型的统计报告以及网站流量统计服务。. What you might not know is Chrome almost didn’t happen because Google’s boss, Eric Schmidt, didn’t want to go through“bruising18bruising： 激烈的。browser wars” and Google was a comparatively small company at the time. As Chrome grew in popularity, IE appeared to be entering its twilight19twilight： 衰退期，暮年。years,at least reputation-wise.

Even IE developers knew they had a problem. In a Reddit20Reddit： 一个社交化新闻和娱乐的网站，用户可以将在互联网上搜集或原创的内容以帖子的形式在网站上发布，而后其他用户可对该帖进行投票，得分突出的帖子将被放置首页。AMA (Ask Me Anything) in August, they hoped “sincerely” they could change the reputation of IE.

Despite its reputation lots of people do still use Internet Explorer. It comes second or third in most usage share estimates.

In fact it is so widely used that some people think Microsoft aren’t getting rid of Internet Explorer entirely, because it would really hurt the way some organisations operate.

So maybe Internet Explorer is not dead after all, just retiring.