"He was a good tool to download other browsers," reads the epitaph on the tombstone. The memorial designed by Jung Ki-young, a software engineer in South Korea, is of the Internet Explorer web browser, which Microsoft Corp just decided to retire. The shining black headstone also has the big "e" logo of the Explorer that was born on August 17, 1995. Photos of the memorial have gone viral since it was opened to public earlier this month.
According to a Reuters report, Jung described his relationship with the browser to be one of “love-hate”, and said he had mixed feelings now that the older Microsoft software, which played a big part in his working life, is gone.
Microsoft last week announced to retire Internet Explorer after a 27-year run, as it said it would now focus on the faster Microsoft Edge browser.
Commemorating the demise of Internet Explorer, Jung spent a month and 430,000 won (around Rs 26,000) designing and ordering the headstone, the report said. The memorial is located on the rooftop of a cafe his brother runs in the South Korea's southern city of Gyeongju.
'It Was A Pain In The A**'
In South Korea, Internet Explorer had remained the default browser in most government offices and banks for years.
"It was a pain in the a**, but I would call it a love-hate relationship because Explorer itself once dominated an era," Jung told Reuters.
Explaining his predicament, Jung said it took him much longer to ensure the websites and online apps he made worked with Explorer, compared to other browsers, his customers would still demand their websites looked good in Explorer.
The idea behind the gravestone was to give people a laugh, Reuters quoted him as saying.
Jung, however, did not expect the joke would go viral online.
"That's another reason for me to thank the Explorer, it has now allowed me to make a world-class joke," he said.