Microsoft Wants to Kill Internet Explorer 6 Too

[SelectivelyEvil13]

If I'm using IE anything, it's a sad day for me regarding internet usage.

I use Firefox 3.6-something because (with my chosen add-ons) it works decently, but more importantly, has an excellent interface with tab colors and organization, for example. Nevertheless, I feel like Firefox 3.0 has been rather sluggish and bloated compared to version 2.0.

Chrome's my backup for speed, but I honestly dislike the comparatively barren (simple, woopity doo!) interface and the top-mounted tabs. With the later point in mind, Firefox 4.0 (Beta) can shove off until I know there is alternative configuration because I could just use Chrome if I wanted that.

Older IE models would likely make me throw things...

[footnote]ReCaptcha: You fail at words, damn you![/footnote]

 

[Araethuiel]

Used IE at first on this PC... never bothered to change it for a while. Firefox simply never appealed to me, it looked at first glance too similar.

Downloaded chrome out of curiosity after seeing it advertised the first time. I think IE is still on here taking up space, but I guess its smart to have a backup in case Chrome goes all silly on me, so I leave it there. Never has though.

Simiathan, XP is awesome. Just think, you could be getting Vista... or the school could be getting macs. That'd be the worst thing... no right click? Madness I say!

 

[Woodsey]

I really don't ever see how FF and Chrome are better than IE other than you can use fancy skins on ya browser.

Chrome doesn't install browser add-ons every time you fart, and that alone makes it considerably faster.

I don't like Firefox either though, or Safari.

 

[Caligulove]

I thought IE6 was dead... shocker

Not to mention that, apparently, 1/4th of Korea uses the incredibly outdated browser makes me rage a little, due to their superior infrastructure to internet- only to squander it with a browser not worthy of such speeds of internets haha

 

[Quiet Stranger]

Did anyone else think this actually meant that they were gonna get rid of IE altogether?? I did

 

[The Youth Counselor]

I've got a better solution: encourage them to switch to Chrome and/or Firefox.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

People still use IE6?? That's a surprise to me. I use Firefox, mostly for a certain add-on that I can't find a decent equivalent for in any other browser.

How the FUCK am I supposed to type that???

 

[gigastar]

First campaign from a company to stop people from using thier products, and Microsoft no less. Me brain be blown...

Used to use IE7 but then moved on to Firefox like everyone else.

Chrome might be nice but i dont want to go to the trouble of uninstalling 4 toolbars i dont need again.

 

[Calcium]

Meh, I've never seen a real difference between firefox and IE. The speed difference was incomparable and I've never had a virus on this netbook so have no reason to change. No way I'm giving Google the satisfaction of all my data though. IE6? Have to admit that's a poor show.

 

[Therumancer]

Well, remember China makes up roughly 1/3rd of the planet's population and to be honest 12% of the population using something is a staggering amount of people.

I can see where Microsoft is coming from, but it has to remember that it wanted to "globalize" this internet thing, and that involved bringing it to places like China where huge tracts of the country are impoverished, not to mention other nations that are in rough shape. Those people simply put can't afford to update to new technology and a 10 year old computer is probably no big thing, especially if a lot of those users only want the computer for things like web browsing and e-mail. Microsoft is in a position where for all it's whining it either has a choice of cutting off a substantial portion of the global population, or supporting the old technology.

I'll also say that I know older tech can be harder to regulate in some cases, I don't know the ins and outs of things like Internet explorer, but I wouldn't be surprised if in a nation with such huge gaps in access to technology your dealing with a situation where things like IE 6 operate "under the radar" of a goverment and ruling class that have been updating to the state of the art. Sort of like how some older versions of Bit Torrent were harder to track and keep tabs on than newer ones that incorperated "safeguards" allegedly (don't follow it too closely).

For the most part I think the problem is a lot of those beloved "casual users" who don't see the point in giving themselves a headache and changing over from what they are used to. But I'd suspect there are other reasons as well.

No big deal overall. People should have suspected that with this level of penetration that the internet was going to have to slow down it's evolution like anything else if it was going to exist on this level.

 

[BabyRaptor]

Didn't they do something like this to try and get people to switch off XP?

I'll stop using XP the day after it becomes absolutely impossible, but hey. It probably worked for lots of other people.

 

[Snotnarok]

As a webmaster, I can't say how much this makes me angry and happy a the same time, I hate IE with such a passion for all the problems it caused me over the years and I hate that there's STILL people using the oldest shittiest version there ever was. But I'm glad they're finally trying to rid the world of that trash.

 

[Throwitawaynow]

After trying firefox and realizing I couldn't do the same things as I could on IE, I still use IE. I might download chrome just to see if I can get everything.

 

[Formica Archonis]

I still miss netscape

And that's why I use Seamonkey skinned to look like Communicator 4. A few UI tweaks and it's the 90's all over again. (Gotta replace the throbber one of these days.)

 

[Toriver]

I keep a copy of IE6 on my computer for those pesky few websites I need to access that still work only in Internet Explorer. It's the latest IE that I know of that works in WINE, due to proprietary software BS. But I have only ever actually had to use it 2 or 3 times. I use Firefox.

 

[acutekat]

I liked IE (latest version though not 6), I liked the soul crushing mediocrity of it all, but it physically stopped working. Stopped loading pages threw up error messages that didn't do anything. Told me IE explore had crashed but it kept on working. I eventually gave it up. Moved to opera as I had been using OperaTor to get around firewalls and I haven't really looked back, but I really wish we could get some x64 browsers with flash.