As Microsoft introduced its new internet browser Edge with Windows 10 with substantial marketing and fanfare, many Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 users were left wondering what would happen with the tried and true Internet Explorer 11 experience. On the surface it seemed Internet Explorer 11 would be put on legacy life support for those who still chose to use it while Microsoft backed its new pared down web browsing with resources and features, all the while urging users to move over to Edge.
However, the Windows team sees things bit differently. Instead of leaving Internet Explorer 11 to wither away on the vine, the Edge and IE teams are working together to improve the Internet browsing experience for both properties in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update.
We’ve heard your feedback and, beginning with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, the interstitial page will be removed by default. IE11 will simply load on top of Microsoft Edge with no extra visual affordances, helping your users more quickly complete the tasks they had set out to do.
We recognize that some customers liked the interstitial page as a way to educate their users on why IE11 was being opened automatically. For customers that want to enable the previous experience, we have introduced a new “Show message when opening sites in Internet Explorer using Enterprise Mode” Microsoft Edge group policy.
Other feedback from users has encouraged the IE11 and Edge team to restrict IE11 to only line of business applications.
Starting with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, we are introducing a new Internet Explorer group policy to restrict IE11 usage to only sites on the Enterprise Mode Site List: “Send all sites not included in the Enterprise Mode Site List to Microsoft Edge.” Enabling this setting automatically opens all sites that are not included in the Enterprise Mode Site List in Microsoft Edge. We recommend setting Microsoft Edge as the default browser when enabling this policy.
The new feature is said to work with both v.1 and v.2 XML schemas as well as previous intranet settings for IE11 and Edge group policies.
The Windows 10 Anniversary Update is bringing a lot of refinement to the platform as well customization and flexibility for users accustomed to specific workflows. While the Windows team would like to convert all Internet Explorer users over to Edge, slowly merging functionality between the two will have to do for now.
