Only Microsoft Edge Enterprise will support Internet Explorer Mode
Work on the Chromium-based version of Microsoft Edge continues. Microsoft has published beta versions of the upcoming web browser for various operating systems up until now. The company uses the same classifications as Google to differentiate between different test versions.
Microsoft Edge Canary is the cutting edge version; other beta versions are Microsoft Edge Dev and Beta. The final version has not been released yet and many expect its initial release when Microsoft releases the first feature update of 2020 for Windows 10.
Tip: here are 8 ways in which Microsoft Edge Chromium is better than Google Chrome.
Microsoft revealed plans for the Enterprise version of Microsoft Edge recently on the Microsoft Edge Dev blog. A roadmap highlights features that are available already in Enterprise versions of Edge and features that will be available soon or in the future.
The features will be Enterprise-exclusive and one of the listed features is support for Internet Explorer mode.
Internet Explorer mode is a compatibility mode to load webpages that require certain technologies, e.g. ActiveX or Browser Helper Objects, to avoid compatibility issues.
Microsoft Edge cannot load these by default because it does not support certain technologies that Internet Explorer supports.
IE Mode requires that administrators enable the policy "Configure Internet Explorer integration" and define the sites that should be loaded automatically in the mode. Two options, loading all Intranet sites or specifying sites using the Enterprise Site List XML, are available.
Internet Explorer mode was available in non-Enterprise versions of Microsoft Edge previously, and part of the confusion surrounding it came from that integration.
Techdows managed to get an answer from Microsoft about it. Microsoft stated that the entry was added to these versions for "internal debugging purposes only". The company removed it when IE mode was released officially.
That menu entry was always intended only for internal debugging purposes, and we've removed it now that IE mode is formally released. IE mode is a enterprise-only feature. Only the admin controls whether a site ends up in IE mode or not (this is key to the security model).
Administrators of Enterprise machines can check out the official IE Mode guide on the Microsoft Docs website. Note that IE Mode is only available on Windows 10 devices running at least Windows 10 version 1809.
Internet Explorer remains an option on Windows 10 and previous versions of Windows. Web developers may use it to test webpages and everyone else may use it to load Internet sites just fine. It is certainly possible that public sites will only load in Internet Explorer.
According to Sergey Tkachenko, there is now an authorized way to bring the feature back on non enterprise systems. https://winaero.com/blog/enable-ie-mode-chromium-edge/
It’s hard to believe but there are some websites, even major ones, that don’t work in Vivaldi or Firefox but somehow are fine in IE. I mean that the login won’t work or dropdown menus can’t be accessed. I have to assume that Chrome would also work but I don’t feel like being honest and open with Google about everything I do online.
It’s hard to choose between Microsoft and Google when it comes to trustworthiness but at least it would be nice to have the choice. It comes as no surprise that they would restrict a feature to the Enterprise version though. It seems they live to disappoint and annoy.
The only reason anyone would use Edge is to download another browser.
With super-safe content like that, no one would have a reason to worry.
Edge isn’t that bad. Even the “old” Edge did its job well. It didn’t have much features, but neither does Chrome.
“It is certainly possible that public sites will only load in Internet Explorer.”
Martin,
That’s concerning. Would you expand on that please?
Thanx
Makes sense, only enterprise needs the old IE code base for their out of date, yet used heavily web applications.
…which rely heavily on ActiveX and Java…
This IE mode reminds me of VHS versus BETA. Yes, they are both gone now. Just sayin’
No one cares about IE, IE mode or Edge.
That’s pretty ignorant son. Corporations care.
Looking at the millions who downloaded the dev versions of Edgium, I think plenty of people care… :P
Millions out of billions, right :P Edgium is what the world is waiting for, we all need to give our data to Microsoft:P
hey Martin you may want to cover in an article this new addon by the Tor Project: https://snowflake.torproject.org