Microsoft: Why We Can't Drop IE6 Support

[dirtykid]

Last year, we had a supplier who's web application was preventing anything higher than IE6. I pushed IE7 out through WSUS the week that site was updated

 

[CircusMusic]

There's a reason for standards... Drop that old browser so the web can continue to move forward.

 

[march1352]

Since IE7 and IE8 suck - full of glitches and slow, why drop IE6?? Doesn't Microsoft get it - produce the fastest, most reliable, most versatile browser and capture the market - DUH??

 

[Guest]

A good reason to drop it would be that its standards compliance is terrible. There are tons of developers that go crazy every day just because IE6 needs a trick here, a defined value there, etc.

Standards. They are called so for a reason.

 

[pochacco007]

"...The survey showed that 69 percent of Digg users still using Internet Explorer 6 were doing so because either they don’t have administrator access on my computer or someone at work says they can't and it looks like Microsoft is standing behind those who cannot upgrade because their employer says they can't...."

so microsoft is supporting it because people at work can't install it on the computers at work because they don't have administrative powers?

but what about the people at home? what is there reasoning for continuing the support for internet explorer 6 for home users?

as a matter of fact, someone here has given the answer,
"Since IE7 and IE8 suck - full of glitches and slow, why drop IE6??" march1352

 

[Maxor127]

[citation][nom]o0max0o[/nom]A good reason to drop it would be that its standards compliance is terrible. There are tons of developers that go crazy every day just because IE6 needs a trick here, a defined value there, etc.Standards. They are called so for a reason.[/citation]
Thank you. I'm glad someone stated the obvious so I wouldn't have to.

 

[Guest]

I don't think that websites did abandon the IE6 support.
I think they have to agree to the stantards and if some browser doesn't follow the standard inform the user that it's their fault and that they have to use a better browser.

We don't need to write wrong sites because the browser's doesn't function.

 

[crom]

Large websites should absolutely drop support for IE6. It is an absolute nightmare to code for, it creates twice the amount of work than you'd normally have to do to get a website to format correctly in it as well as more modern browsers. Its also holding the web back. It limits newer technologies and fonts that you can display online. It would also create leverage when you're pitching some piece of web business by saying "these major websites don't support IE6 anymore, we can make your website that much stronger if you also decide to not support it. Plus it will cost you less to have us develop it for you."

 

[badaxe2]

Why would anyone not want to upgrade to the latest IE when it's one of the simplest things to upgrade.

 

[ravewulf]

[citation][nom]fuser[/nom]Large public websites cannot afford to drop IE6 support. You can force your website visitors to upgrade or go away, but there's always the risk that users will pick the latter option.[/citation]
There are quite a few web sites that do do this. They even put "You seem to be running Internet Explorer. Please consider switching to Opera or Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome or Apple Safari." Other sites state that certain core features of the website will not work unless the user switches browsers. Not very friendly.

 

[smashley]

Many companies use IE 6 because they spent millions of dollars to have internal proprietary applications developed which depend on it. Lots of companies still use MSJVM for the exact same reason, even though Microsoft dropped support for it 2 years ago. The problem is these companies can't afford to have new software developed every time a new browser comes along and so are forced to stick with what they've got. Web developers I'm sure would love for only current generation browser to be used, but since according to wikipedia, as of july 09, IE6 represents 29% of overall market share, actually beating out IE7 (24%) and 8 (15%), dropping IE 6 support for their websites would be a pretty bad idea.

 

[nachowarrior]

I think that major sites need to drop support for IE completely.

The fact that they don't conform to industry standards forces web designers to put more work, time, and money into their web pages. Do they care about them? I don't see how they're showing that they do. I can build a web page that's compatible with the top 4 browsers EXCEPT IE. To make it compatible with IE I am forced to go in and add code that shouldn't need to be there. Also this forces some companies to compromise and leave out design elements they would otherwise use.

So I say force them to change. Ditch support for IE and support only industry standards until they decide to actually be a part of the community and help innovation rather than trying to stifle it.

 

[alextheblue]

[citation][nom]duckmanx88[/nom]I had applied for a job at SEIU and they made me take this test on their computers. they were still using IE6 and Windows 98. its ridiculous. I hate when people cling for dear life to old technology and software. very inefficient especially when all their computers had limewire on it.[/citation]Well you know the SEIU has to find the money to pay its "volunteers" somewhere, so why not take it out of the technology budget? After all, they mostly just need union muscle, fancy new computers aren't going to deter people from messing with the union. 😛

 

[jedimasterben]

I work at the UPS Store in my town, and we got a fax blast today saying that HQ or wherever is slipstreaming IE7 into our normal end of day processing. About time, if you ask me.

 

[Guest]

apparently no one has seen that youtube is trying to force users to move away from ie6 and upgrade to latest versions of ie, firefox, and opera as they said they are dropping support for ie6.

 

[jcombalicer]

when i was in this multi-national company, we tried to move user to ie7 back then but puffs... a lot of trouble began to appear.

a lot of program specially oracle, cant perform well with ie7 it only works with ie6. And you know how much it will cost the organization to upgrade the Oracle.

Now in my new company our problem is the ie8. when user starts the ie8 it changes the default homepage to microsoft configuration tools for newly installed ie8. And this is very troublesome since it requires the user to be connected to the internet which not all users has an access. My point is they(microsoft) should return to the old style upgrade of ie. straight forward, no hassle. Our IE are configured to start when the user login and display our default home page which is our company website with our daily bulletin on it. now most of the users are left with ie8 configuration window. If they really wants to push this maybe they could make it minimal and user mandated instance.

just sharing my thoughts...

 

[brad327]

This is so backwards. The real problem is that Microsoft releases products that are not standards compliant. It should be a matter of MS getting their act together and fixing their browsers' problems. They aren't forced to do that, though, since most end users aren't particularly computer-savvy and just want things to work. So if they go to a broken website, they get mad at the website's creators instead of Microsoft because, hey, most other sites work so why can't this one?!

 

[climber]

The biggest problem isn't the browser per say, it's all the 3rd party middleware that is built upon a particular browser as a standard for the corporate or government computer enterprise environment. I know, we have lots of applications where I work that are national applications that are built upon IE6 and a certain flavour of java, update your java past a certain version and some of your apps may not work, same thing applies for what browser you're using. Our websites are still based upon 1024 x 768 screen sizes.

 

[ta152h]

That second paragraph is a convoluted nightmare. I'm still not sure why they need administrator access on your computer, although I am sure I saw a run-on sentence.

IE6 really sucks. It's not even the features, it's buggy and slow. Although IE 8 is truly horrible with Microsoft asking questions in a different way to confuse the Hell out of everyone. Let's face it, Microsoft software sucks, always has, and when faced with competition that their established position can't overwhelm, generally fails. IE is losing market share, and mind share, and that's not a bad thing.

I'd like to see a survey that talks about why people use IE 8. IE 6 is from inertia, mostly, but IE 8? I'd be really interested in why anyone would use that. It has some nice features, but the implementation is so poor, it's almost moot.

 

[poorgeek]

So, in essence, what we are really saying is that America is prime target for corporate mass cyberattacks because many employers refuse to upgrade browsers and OS's...Hmmm, I wonder which will cost more - corporate upgrades or loss/stolen data and downtime?

 

[andy_newton]

Why MS can not abandon IE6 yet is because of one simple reason: IE6 is still the fastest and the most lightweight IE ever. That is why we use Firefox, Safari, Opera, & etc.

If only IE7 & 8 are as fast as Safari, as customizable as Firefox, as whole as Opera, and as lightweight as IE4, No one will still be using IE6 anymore.

In fact, IT managers will voluntarily upgrade all his machines to IE7&8 for the sake of his own sanity despite how busy he is.

-ND

 

[TwoDigital]

I'm still baffled at the speed in which "8" was rolled out... was IE7 out for, like, a month before they replaced it with 8?

 

[jerther]

[citation][nom]zingam[/nom]8 years is a long time? What about the simple Wheel? How long has it been in use? 5 thousand years? 10 thousand years? 15 thousand years?[/citation]

yeah, I agree, except we haven't found anything better than the wheel yet, but we've found something better than IE6, and it is an easier upgrade than switching your car wheels for a levitation engine it's even free!

but yeah, the car-road interaction needs v2.0

 

[descendency]

Chrome's Live Updates > Microsoft's Broken update policy.

 

[snotling]

[citation][nom]Jerther[/nom]yeah, I agree, except we haven't found anything better than the wheel yet, but we've found something better than IE6, and it is an easier upgrade than switching your car wheels for a levitation engine it's even free!but yeah, the car-road interaction needs v2.0[/citation]

the rubber Layer was a nice update though!

another important thing to consider why IE keeps its market share: automated windows update on XP and older Windows version will not work if IE is not the default browser.