Me musing about the road ahead

Drew1903  The one thing that we can be certain about is that at least half of what we read in the trade press is dead wrong.  

Microsoft has made statements that there will be a transition, and that that at some point both EdgeClassic and IE will be removed from Windows consumer builds (that is, Home and Pro), but has given no timetable.   

A complicating factor is that Microsoft has said that "IE11 will continue to be supported on the lifecycle of the OS."   I understand what that means in the case of Windows 7 and 8/8.1, which have limited, defined end-of-support cycles (Windows 7 support ends shortly, and Windows 8/8.1 support ends in 2022/23), but I'm not sure what that means in the case of Windows 10.

The Enterprise situation is even less clear because Microsoft has contractual obligations to Enterprise customers that may override other considerations.  I have read Microsoft statements that suggest that IE may continue to be embedded in Enterprise versions of Windows 10 for several years.

We will undoubtedly find out more about the timetable going forward, but it seems obvious that there will be a period during which EdgeClassic and IE will continue to be options for both consumers and Enterprise customers. 

In case of consumers, I would be surprised if either EdgeClassic or IE were removed from existing supported builds (currently 1809, 1903, 1909) while those builds are supported.   I don't know what the situation is with 20H1, but I'm a Windows Insider using 20H1, and I've seem no signs at all that Microsoft intends to remove either EdgeClassic or IT from that build.   If Microsoft follows recent practice, 20H2 will be a service release (as is 19H2, or 1909), and while it possible that 20H2 will remove EdgeClassic and IE, it seems less than likely that Microsoft would make a change of that magnitude in a service release.

Maybe 21H1?