Microsoft Reminds You IE6 Is From 2001 and Expired!


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In an Australian marketing campaign, Microsoft is urging those using Internet Explorer 6 to upgrade already. "You wouldn't drink nine-year-old milk, so why use a nine-year-old browser?" asks the Web site urging IE6 users to upgrade to something closer to the front of the fridge. You have to check out the site to believe it!

old_milk.jpg

According to research from Net Applications, IE6 accounts for about 17.6 percent of browser usage worldwide today, with No. 1 IE8 recently picking up steam as people upgrade. One reason for IE6's continuing use is that it's built into Windows XP, which remains in widespread use. Windows 7--which, unlike in-between Vista, is showing signs of catching on--comes with IE8 built in. Convincing corporations to change operating systems can be harder though, especially those with in-house applications designed to run specifically with IE6.

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Oh man, I remember that study.

I remember I had an issue with the results, since Chrome, Safari and Firefox all use the same data source, so them not getting the same results meant that they weren't letting the browsers update the DB during testing.

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Still, its a very valid point. But Sethos would probably have to argue with what they say (In terms of the milk). :rofl:

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Convincing corporations to change operating systems can be harder though, especially those with in-house applications designed to run specifically with IE6.

This. We have only just had confirmation that we can move to IE7.

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Convincing corporations to change operating systems can be harder though, especially those with in-house applications designed to run specifically with IE6.

That wouldn't have been a problem if Microsoft themselves hadn't pushed developers to use their non-standard crap in IE6 that no longer worked in later browsers. They have no one but themselves to blame there. :rolleyes:

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I find it hard to have any sympathy here. The whole IE mess is Microsoft's own doing.

Agreed, once Netscape was out of the picture they left IE6 to rot, almost five years without a new version. On top of that it wasnt very different to IE 5.5 anyway.

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That wouldn't have been a problem if Microsoft themselves hadn't pushed developers to use their non-standard crap in IE6 that no longer worked in later browsers. They have no one but themselves to blame there. :rolleyes:

I have to agree. This is all Microsoft's doing.

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I hear IE9 is enriched with SVG (Something Vitamin G).

I find it hard to have any sympathy here. The whole IE mess is Microsoft's own doing.

I wouldn't have sympathy if Microsoft hadn't created IE7 and 8. But they did, and nobody moved on. I don't have sympathy for those who don't move on.

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I wouldn't have sympathy if Microsoft hadn't created IE7 and 8. But they did, and nobody moved on. I don't have sympathy for those who don't move on.

The problem lies with the fact that IE7 and 8 broke compatibility with many of the things that web developers relied on in IE6, and prevented companies who had IE6-specific web apps from using them.

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I hear IE9 is enriched with SVG (Something Vitamin G).

I wouldn't have sympathy if Microsoft hadn't created IE7 and 8. But they did, and nobody moved on. I don't have sympathy for those who don't move on.

It's not an easy choice to move on if your company realid for so many years on an already obsolete brwoser technology mainly because they had NO choice.

I know Nathan Lineback is not exactly the most unbiased IE critic, but his page of Findings of Fact about IE tells the story of why IE used to be so hated (and still is by some)

http://toastytech.com/evil/fof.html

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I think the 9 year old milk would be pretty solid by now.

using IE6 isnt THAT bad, lol.

:shifty:

Yes Colin-uk, it is bad. Very bad.

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I think they should roll out a hotfix that puts a message on the screen saying IE6 is insecure please upgrade to IE8 and have a button which auto downloads and installs it. I reckon MS should include IE9 in Win7 SP2 this would help users move to IE9 as for IE8 most of those still using IE6 are businesses and people who think internet explorer is the internet and have no clue its a browser and that there are newer better browsers out.

Its a shame there are still alot of IE6 users out there as there are so many web developers who are forced to waste time making their sites work with IE6.

If google, youtube, hotmail and gmail blocked IE6 users completely i think this would do the job nicely as most businesses use google on a daily basis and their employees surf youtube for fun.

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I wouldn't have sympathy if Microsoft hadn't created IE7 and 8. But they did, and nobody moved on. I don't have sympathy for those who don't move on.

Microsoft created that situation, no one else. The blame rests solely on them. Now all the work they did trying to lock people into it have come back to bite them in the ass. If I was going to have sympathy with anyone, it would be the customers.

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I think they should roll out a hotfix that puts a message on the screen saying IE6 is insecure please upgrade to IE8 and have a button which auto downloads and installs it. I reckon MS should include IE9 in Win7 SP2 this would help users move to IE9 as for IE8 most of those still using IE6 are businesses and people who think internet explorer is the internet and have no clue its a browser and that there are newer better browsers out.

Its a shame there are still alot of IE6 users out there as there are so many web developers who are forced to waste time making their sites work with IE6.

If google, youtube, hotmail and gmail blocked IE6 users completely i think this would do the job nicely as most businesses use google on a daily basis and their employees surf youtube for fun.

But it's not only about the sites employees visits. Many intranet apps still rely on IE6

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The problem is that IE6 was really good at its time. Just like XP. But then people started sticking to it and developing for it, and then the new generation of browser/OS rolled around and broke almost everything. It is not Microsoft's responsibility to guarantee that the next generation works like the old one. If you don't want on the new, revolutionary boat, then by all means stick with what you have. But then it becomes your problem alone.

I don't see anyone complaining "Microsoft sucks, they made Windows XP, it's so BROKEN now." Software development is an iterative cycle.

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The problem lies with the fact that IE7 and 8 broke compatibility with many of the things that web developers relied on in IE6, and prevented companies who had IE6-specific web apps from using them.

That's the very reason my employer still stays with IE6.

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Microsoft created that situation, no one else. The blame rests solely on them. Now all the work they did trying to lock people into it have come back to bite them in the ass. If I was going to have sympathy with anyone, it would be the customers.

Oh please, ActiveX still works, albeit with restrictions. The rendering problems are a result of it being an older browser, and just like any other software, those got ironed out when IE 7 and 8 came along..

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ms created the problem of being non standards compliant up until ie7 and further improved it with 8 and they chose not as they left IE6 once it won the browser wars and only till they got competition that they started work on ie7 but by that time it was too late, ms could have been standards compliant with IE6 and before but they chose not to and look what mess they made by doing that, way to go ms you loyaly screwed yourselves and everybody who coded things with a non standards compliant browser and now it is biting you hard that you could have fixed it years ago but chose not to.

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