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What you describe is a valid reason for Windows to continue shipping with MSHTML.dll — not a valid reason to continue shipping the actual iexplore.exe GUI execu

What you describe is a valid reason for Windows to continue shipping with MSHTML.dll — not a valid reason to continue shipping the actual iexplore.exe GUI executable.

int_19h 7y ago
You might be surprised just how much legacy software does something like spawn("iexplore.exe"). And then there are all the internal corporate web portals that are still IE-only, and probably will remain so for as long as IE is supported in any shape or form.
- sjwright 7y ago
  Microsoft should certainly make it easy for corporate deployments to re-enable iexplore.exe — but it shouldn't be available by default on your typical Windows 10 install. (It's already available to uninstall and reinstall as an "optional feature".) Or at the very least, Explorer and the task bar should do everything in its power to hide the existence of Internet Explorer 11. It shouldn't be listed as a program anywhere by default and it shouldn't come up in search.
  - colejohnson66 7y ago
    So do something like what they did with .NET 2.0/3.0 where it’s a feature that has to be installed? But if it detects it’s needed, asks the user to install it right then? That’s actually a good idea. Why isn’t it like this?
  - Polylactic_acid 7y ago
    This is probably a good idea. It seems that so many of the IE users I deal with at work do not need IE for any reason, they are just familiar with the icon and continue to use it even if any other browser would work just as well.
- badsectoracula 7y ago
  Legacy software like pretty much all of GOG's installers when you click the "Download" button on one of the embedded ads that show during installation :-P
makomk 7y ago
Internet Explorer has a COM API which enterprise software (or worse, weird company-specific VBA scripts) can and likely does use to drive it directly. That API launches the actual iexplore.exe GUI executable and lets your code control it and interact with web pages, much like you might do with something like Selenium these days - except that this dates back to the nineties.

What you describe is a valid reason for Windows to continue shipping with MSHTML.dll — not a valid reason to continue shipping the actual iexplore.exe GUI executable.

int_19h 7y ago

You might be surprised just how much legacy software does something like spawn("iexplore.exe"). And then there are all the internal corporate web portals that are still IE-only, and probably will remain so for as long as IE is supported in any shape or form.

sjwright 7y ago
Microsoft should certainly make it easy for corporate deployments to re-enable iexplore.exe — but it shouldn't be available by default on your typical Windows 10 install. (It's already available to uninstall and reinstall as an "optional feature".) Or at the very least, Explorer and the task bar should do everything in its power to hide the existence of Internet Explorer 11. It shouldn't be listed as a program anywhere by default and it shouldn't come up in search.
- colejohnson66 7y ago
  So do something like what they did with .NET 2.0/3.0 where it’s a feature that has to be installed? But if it detects it’s needed, asks the user to install it right then? That’s actually a good idea. Why isn’t it like this?
- Polylactic_acid 7y ago
  This is probably a good idea. It seems that so many of the IE users I deal with at work do not need IE for any reason, they are just familiar with the icon and continue to use it even if any other browser would work just as well.
badsectoracula 7y ago
Legacy software like pretty much all of GOG's installers when you click the "Download" button on one of the embedded ads that show during installation :-P

makomk 7y ago

Internet Explorer has a COM API which enterprise software (or worse, weird company-specific VBA scripts) can and likely does use to drive it directly. That API launches the actual iexplore.exe GUI executable and lets your code control it and interact with web pages, much like you might do with something like Selenium these days - except that this dates back to the nineties.