This is what Internet Explorer’s ‘tombstone’ reads

For Jung Ki-young, a South Korean software engineer, Microsoft Corporation’s recent decision to retire its Internet Explorer web browser marked the end of a complex and long-lasting relationship with the technology. To commemorate Explorer’s demise, Jung spent a month and 430,000 won ($330) designing and ordering a headstone featuring Explorer’s iconic “e” logo and the English epitaph: “He was a good tool to download other browsers.” The headstone was displayed at a café owned by Jung’s brother in the southern city of Gyeongju, and a photograph of it quickly became viral.

With a 27-year run, Microsoft has now scaled down support for the once-dominant Internet Explorer, refocusing its efforts on the faster browser, Microsoft Edge. For Jung, the memorial represents his mixed feelings towards the older software that played a significant role in his professional life. “It was a pain, but I would describe it as a love-hate relationship because Explorer itself once dominated an era,” he explained to Reuters.

Jung admitted that he often spent more time ensuring his websites and online apps were compatible with Internet Explorer compared to other browsers. However, his clients consistently requested their websites to be compatible with Explorer, as it remained the default browser in South Korean government offices and many banks for several years.

Introduced in 1995, Internet Explorer became the world’s leading browser for over a decade due to its inclusion with Microsoft’s Windows operating system, which was pre-installed on billions of computers. However, it gradually lost its market share to Google’s Chrome during the late 2000s and became the subject of numerous internet memes, with developers accusing it of being slower than its competitors.

Jung initially intended to use the gravestone as a humorous way to make people laugh, but he was surprised by the extent of the joke’s popularity online. “That’s another reason for me to thank Explorer; it has now allowed me to create a world-class joke,” he added.

While Jung regrets Explorer’s retirement, he doesn’t anticipate missing it. To him, its retirement symbolizes a good death.