It's time to change
Friday Google announced that it is phasing out support for Internet Explorer version 6, in a blog post titled, Modern browsers for modern applications . W3Schools.com reports that market saturation for IE6 was down to 10.9% in December 2009.
Ten percent is still a significant portion of Web users. And of that group most are likely from corporations who have applications dependent upon IE6 plugins. With these numbers, we at Capstrat cannot make the same decision as Google, but it is the right decision.
If the Web development community continues to support IE6, those users will continue to expereince the Web mostly intact. There's no real incentive for individuals and IT departments to upgrade. Until we break their experience through non-support, they will have little reason to upgrade.
Kudos to Google. Hopefully we'll be along soon.
Comments
Exactly right Evan, we as web developers are encouraging people to stick with a browser that is now almost 10 years old!
Who is still using the same computer they had in 2001? How about the same cell phone?
Stop supporting it. Fix your crappy "only runs in IE6" code so that it will run on any browser, and breath in the fresh crisp air of the future.
Die IE6. DIE!
That didn't come off as an angry rant did it? ;-)
For my company, it's not that IE6 has plugins we need. Rather it's cheaper to have everyone remain on IE6 instead of upgrading. Why pay to install the new software, train people on it, and troubleshoot it than to just keep IE6?
We need to either exploit the security flaws of IE6 horrendously or to make websites unusuable. The only way to bring the beast down is to cripple it and make it useless.
Wait a minute.... didn't google just release a free browser?
(sarcastic tone intended). Google is trying to push adoption of Chrome and this will certainly advance that cause.
My bet is that Capstrat will continue to provide IE6 compatible code until clients make the change on their own. If individuals and IT departments refuse to upgrade because the cost/benefit ratio isn't there yet, then I doubt Capstrat refusing to write IE6 code will be the big catalyst for change. Rather, they'll probably think we are being code snobs and take the work elsewhere.
*You know me, I'm always the Devils' Advocate. In real life I am a mac snob and avoid anything Windows, especially internet exploder! Yeah Macs cost more but they just work.*
I am working with a client that is proudly announcing plans to roll out the "new" IE7 sometime this year. What plugs-in would be so critical and expensive to change this is would make sense to stick with e such an archaic platform?
Google isn't trying to promote their browser as much as it is trying to promote the development of the Web.
It's time folks. Upgrade.
It's also time to start informing clients that the sites we create will be less creative and effective if we continue to support IE 6. The Web is moving on. It's time to move along with it.
Oh, no, it isn't!
Google are only planning to upgrade some unimportant aspects of their website. The search engine, the important bit, will continue to function normally in IE 5 and IE 6.
Many IE6 users are running some version of Windows 9x, on an older computer, one that isn't capable of running IE7. So what Google is really saying is: we demand that you buy a new computer, and a new Operating System, and all-new Windows NT software.
Well, no one is going to do that! Not because one search engine makes a trivial change to its website. Although they might not think so, even if Google disappears tomorrow there are plenty of other search engines.
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