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Goodbye IE6.
Posted on 29/07/2009 by Matthew O`Neill
Internet Explorer, Lab News, Lab Tech
Hitting the technology grape vine this week is the news that YouTube, one of the most popular websites on the internet, will soon be removing support for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6 browser software.
Why is this news you say? Well… Despite IE6 being released in 2001, making it about 8 years old, it has maintained a large percentage of the browsing user base – meaning that website compatibility for it has to be built in. As a result, this has been the bane of the website design and development world for many years due to its outdated and poor quality features/functionality. It is a veritable nightmare to design and code websites for.
In addition, it’s only been recently (end 2008 into 2009) that the overall usage statistics for Internet Explorer 6 have started declining from holding a significant user base share (20-40%) down to a relatively small 15%. See full statistics details here.
The drop in people using IE6, and large website leaders announcing their cut-off of support for it, has created an almost ecstatic wave of excitement and buzz throughout the online communities. Some have even started online campaigns to move it on its way. These range from useful things like the Goodbye IE6 Project which helps users to identify if their browser is outdated, to the humorous DearIE6 where people can say their final goodbyes. You can even get yourself a poster here.
If whilst reading this article you’ve noticed you’re running IE6 or a similarly outdated browser, you can follow one of the links below to upgrade:
