SEOUL, June 17 (Reuters) – For Jung Ki-young, a South Korean software program engineer, Microsoft Corp’s (MSFT.O) choice to retire its Web Explorer internet browser marked the top of a quarter-century love-hate relationship with the know-how.

To commemorate its demise, he spent a month and 430,000 gained ($330) designing and ordering a gravestone with Explorer’s “e” brand and the English epitaph: “He was a very good device to obtain different browsers.”

After the memorial went on present at a restaurant run by his brother within the southern metropolis of Gyeongju, a photograph of the tombstone went viral.

Microsoft scaled down assist for the as soon as omnipresent Web Explorer on Wednesday after a 27-year run, to concentrate on its quicker browser, Microsoft Edge.

Jung mentioned the memorial confirmed his combined emotions for the older software program, which had performed such a giant half in his working life.

“It was a ache within the ass, however I might name it a love-hate relationship as a result of Explorer itself as soon as dominated an period,” he instructed Reuters.

He mentioned he discovered it took him longer to verify his web sites and on-line apps labored with Explorer, than with different browsers.

However his clients stored asking him to verify their web sites regarded good in Explorer, which remained the default browser in South Korean authorities workplaces and lots of banks for years.

Launched in 1995, Explorer turned the world’s main browser for greater than a decade because it was bundled with Microsoft’s Home windows working system that got here pre-installed in billions of computer systems. read more

But it surely began shedding out to Google’s Chrome within the late 2000s and have become a topic of numerous web memes, with some builders suggesting it was sluggish in contrast with its rivals.

Jung mentioned he had meant to present individuals fun with the headstone, however was nonetheless shocked about how far the joke went on-line.

“That is another excuse for me to thank the Explorer, it has now allowed me to make a world-class joke,” he mentioned.

“I remorse that it is gone, however will not miss it. So its retirement, to me, is an efficient demise.”

($1 = 1,292.2600 gained)

Reporting by Minwoo Park and Hyonhee Shin; Enhancing by Andrew Heavens

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.