I'm not sure about the latest version since I rarely use it, but I'm fairly sure that feature existed beyond IE8. But that feature existed for those very people that complained about it, because they were also the types to complain about some setting or another that wasn't doing what they expected even though the browser asked for them to make that setting. It's you either get complaints at the beginning or the end. You will always, always have a percentage of people who not only don't understand how things work, they'll go out of their way to avoid learning how it works. You can't avoid that. The prompt is for people who may actually want to know how the software they are using actually works.

But hey, everybody has their opinion on the matter. I, for one, feel that if the app is going to have settings with defaults then the developers shouldn't be changing them at random times changing the experience of the user without prompting them. But if they are, then the user should be prompted at the beginning with an explanation that "hey! we may change this setting later so this is to make you aware of it" so that they can choose their own default that hopefully should never be changed again. My advocating for the prompt in the beginning isn't because I think it's a good idea, it's because I think changing settings that a user has been operating under without their consent is a bad idea. This is my proposed solution to what I feel is a bad idea.