• The grave for Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which was retired by the company earlier this week after 27 years, on the rooftop of a cafe in South Korea's southern city of Gyeongju. AFP
    The grave for Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which was retired by the company earlier this week after 27 years, on the rooftop of a cafe in South Korea's southern city of Gyeongju. AFP
  • The grave for Microsoft's Internet Explorer. AFP
    The grave for Microsoft's Internet Explorer. AFP
  • This undated handout photo provided courtesy of Kiyoung Jung on June 17, 2022 shows a grave for Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which was retired by the company earlier this week after 27 years, in honour of the browser's "death", on the rooftop of a cafe in South Korea's southern city of Gyeongju. - A South Korean engineer who built a grave for Internet Explorer -- photos of which quickly went viral -- told AFP on June 17 that the now-defunct web browser had made his life a misery. (Photo by Kiyoung Jung / Courtesy of Kiyoung Jung / AFP) / ---- EDITORS NOTE --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Courtesy of Kiyoung Jung" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
    This undated handout photo provided courtesy of Kiyoung Jung on June 17, 2022 shows a grave for Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which was retired by the company earlier this week after 27 years, in honour of the browser's "death", on the rooftop of a cafe in South Korea's southern city of Gyeongju. - A South Korean engineer who built a grave for Internet Explorer -- photos of which quickly went viral -- told AFP on June 17 that the now-defunct web browser had made his life a misery. (Photo by Kiyoung Jung / Courtesy of Kiyoung Jung / AFP) / ---- EDITORS NOTE --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Courtesy of Kiyoung Jung" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
  • The Internet Explorer logo. Photo: Microsoft
    The Internet Explorer logo. Photo: Microsoft

RIP Internet Explorer: software engineer's tombstone for Microsoft browser goes viral


  • English
  • Arabic

A South Korean software engineer who built a grave for Internet Explorer — pictures of which quickly went viral — said that the now-defunct web browser had made his life a misery.

South Korea, which has some of the world's fastest average internet speeds, remained bizarrely wedded to Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which was retired by the company earlier this week after 27 years.

In honour of the browser's “death”, a gravestone marked with its signature “e” logo was set up on the rooftop of a cafe in South Korea's southern city of Gyeongju by engineer Kiyoung Jung, 38.

“He was a good tool to use to download other browsers,” the gravestone's inscription reads.

Images of Mr Jung's joke tombstone quickly spread online, with users of social media site Reddit upvoting it tens of thousands of times.

Once dominant globally, Internet Explorer was widely reviled in recent years due to its slow speed and glitches.

But in South Korea, it was mandatory for online banking and shopping until about 2014, as all such online activities required sites to use ActiveX — a plug-in created by Microsoft.

It remained the default browser for many Seoul government sites until very recently, local reports said.

The Microsoft Internet Explorer logo is projected on a screen in Los Angeles. AP Photo
The Microsoft Internet Explorer logo is projected on a screen in Los Angeles. AP Photo

The websites of the Korea Water Resources Corporation and the Korea Expressway Corporation only functioned properly in Internet Explorer until at least June 10, according to a report by the Maeil Economic Daily.

As a software engineer and web developer, Mr Jung told AFP he constantly “suffered” at work because of compatibility issues involving the now-defunct browser.

“In South Korea, when you are doing web development work, the expectation was always that it should look good in Internet Explorer, rather than Chrome,” he said.

Websites that look good in other browsers, such as Safari or Chrome, can look very wrong in Internet Explorer, which often forced him to spend many extra hours working to ensure compatibility.

Mr Jung said that he was “overjoyed” by the browser's retirement.

But he also said he felt genuinely nostalgic and emotional about the browser's demise, as he remembers its heyday — one of the reasons he was inspired to erect the grave stone.

He quoted Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki: “People are often relieved that machines don't have souls, but we as human beings actually give our hearts to them,” Mr Jung said, explaining his feelings for Internet Explorer.

He said he was pleased by the response to his joke grave and that he and his brother — who owns the cafe — plan to leave the monument on the rooftop in Gyeongju indefinitely.

“It has been very exciting to make others laugh,” he said.

____________________________

Inside Google's new self-developed Bay View campus

  • A bicycle path along Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
    A bicycle path along Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
  • Workstations in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
    Workstations in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
  • Sitting area at Google's Campfire Corner in Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
    Sitting area at Google's Campfire Corner in Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
  • Sitting area at Google's Campfire Corner in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
    Sitting area at Google's Campfire Corner in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
  • Interior view in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
    Interior view in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
  • Interior view of Google's Campfire Corner in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
    Interior view of Google's Campfire Corner in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
  • Interior view in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
    Interior view in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
  • An exterior view of building BV200 and Google shared bicycles during a tour of Google's new Bay View Campus. Reuters
    An exterior view of building BV200 and Google shared bicycles during a tour of Google's new Bay View Campus. Reuters
  • A seating area in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
    A seating area in Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
  • Google announced the opening of its new Bay View campus in Silicon Valley, representing the company's first time developing its own major campus. EPA
    Google announced the opening of its new Bay View campus in Silicon Valley, representing the company's first time developing its own major campus. EPA
  • Art work in Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
    Art work in Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
  • An Office directory in Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
    An Office directory in Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
  • Interior and ceiling view of BV200, Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
    Interior and ceiling view of BV200, Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
  • The Google bicycle Pedal Park inside Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
    The Google bicycle Pedal Park inside Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
  • Binary code and art work on the window of Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
    Binary code and art work on the window of Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
  • The side of Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
    The side of Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
  • An outdoor weight room in front of Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
    An outdoor weight room in front of Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
  • Binary code on the window of Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
    Binary code on the window of Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
  • The Google logo in front of Google's Bay View Building. EPA
    The Google logo in front of Google's Bay View Building. EPA
  • An interior view of BV200, Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
    An interior view of BV200, Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
  • An Interior view of BV200, Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
    An Interior view of BV200, Google's new Bay View campus building. EPA
  • A Google Android bot in the lobby of BV100, Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
    A Google Android bot in the lobby of BV100, Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
  • The Bay View campus was designed by architects Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Heatherwick Studio, as well as Google's design and engineering teams and spans 42 acres adjacent to the open space, two office buildings, and 1,000-person event centre. EPA
    The Bay View campus was designed by architects Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Heatherwick Studio, as well as Google's design and engineering teams and spans 42 acres adjacent to the open space, two office buildings, and 1,000-person event centre. EPA
  • A coffee table made out of a wood stump in the sitting area at BV200, Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
    A coffee table made out of a wood stump in the sitting area at BV200, Google's new Bay View campus. EPA
  • Google employees in the cafeteria area in Mountain View, California. EPA
    Google employees in the cafeteria area in Mountain View, California. EPA
  • A Google employee in the cafeteria area in Mountain View, California. EPA
    A Google employee in the cafeteria area in Mountain View, California. EPA
  • A worker inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg
    A worker inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg
  • A seating area inside Google's new Bay View campus. Bloomberg
    A seating area inside Google's new Bay View campus. Bloomberg
  • Inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg
    Inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg
  • Workers inside Google's new Bay View campus. Bloomberg
    Workers inside Google's new Bay View campus. Bloomberg
  • A mural inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg
    A mural inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg
  • Inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg
    Inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg
  • Workers in one of the many dining areas inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg
    Workers in one of the many dining areas inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg
  • Inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg
    Inside Google's new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Bloomberg
  • Desks inside Google's new Bay View campus. Bloomberg
    Desks inside Google's new Bay View campus. Bloomberg
  • One of nine pieces of art created by Bay Area artists for the campus. Reuters
    One of nine pieces of art created by Bay Area artists for the campus. Reuters
Past winners of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

2016 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)

2015 Nico Rosberg (Mercedes-GP)

2014 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)

2013 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing)

2012 Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)

2011 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)

2010 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing)

2009 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing)

 

Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The alternatives

• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.

• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.

• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.

2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.

• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases -  but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How England have scored their set-piece goals in Russia

Three Penalties

v Panama, Group Stage (Harry Kane)

v Panama, Group Stage (Kane)

v Colombia, Last 16 (Kane)

Four Corners

v Tunisia, Group Stage (Kane, via John Stones header, from Ashley Young corner)

v Tunisia, Group Stage (Kane, via Harry Maguire header, from Kieran Trippier corner)

v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, header, from Trippier corner)

v Sweden, Quarter-Final (Maguire, header, from Young corner)

One Free-Kick

v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, via Jordan Henderson, Kane header, and Raheem Sterling, from Tripper free-kick)

Specs

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Power: 405hp at 5,500rpm
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Her most famous song

Aghadan Alqak (Would I Ever Find You Again)?

Would I ever find you again
You, the heaven of my love, my yearning and madness;
You, the kiss to my soul, my cheer and
sadness?
Would your lights ever break the night of my eyes again?
Would I ever find you again?
This world is volume and you're the notion,
This world is night and you're the lifetime,
This world is eyes and you're the vision,
This world is sky and you're the moon time,
Have mercy on the heart that belongs to you.

Lyrics: Al Hadi Adam; Composer: Mohammed Abdel Wahab

Empty Words

By Mario Levrero  

(Coffee House Press)
 

WHAT IS GRAPHENE?

It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.

Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.

By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.

In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. 

INVESTMENT PLEDGES

Cartlow: $13.4m

Rabbitmart: $14m

Smileneo: $5.8m

Soum: $4m

imVentures: $100m

Plug and Play: $25m

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

ITU Abu Dhabi World Triathlon

For more information go to www.abudhabi.triathlon.org.

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

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The specs

Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8

Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm

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Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km

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On sale: now 

Dubai Bling season three

Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed 

Rating: 1/5

Russia's Muslim Heartlands

Dominic Rubin, Oxford

Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20myZoi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Syed%20Ali%2C%20Christian%20Buchholz%2C%20Shanawaz%20Rouf%2C%20Arsalan%20Siddiqui%2C%20Nabid%20Hassan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2037%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Initial%20undisclosed%20funding%20from%20SC%20Ventures%3B%20second%20round%20of%20funding%20totalling%20%2414%20million%20from%20a%20consortium%20of%20SBI%2C%20a%20Japanese%20VC%20firm%2C%20and%20SC%20Venture%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
RESULT

Brazil 2 Croatia 0
Brazil: 
Neymar (69'), Firmino (90' 3)    

MATCH INFO

Azerbaijan 0

Wales 2 (Moore 10', Wilson 34')

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026

1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years

If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.

2. E-invoicing in the UAE

Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption. 

3. More tax audits

Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks. 

4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime

Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.

5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit

There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.

6. Further transfer pricing enforcement

Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes. 

7. Limited time periods for audits

Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion. 

8. Pillar 2 implementation 

Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.

9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services

Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations. 

10. Substance and CbC reporting focus

Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity. 

Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer

RACECARD%20
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Updated: June 17, 2022, 6:54 AM