Death to Internet Explorer 6 – Please?
I was heartened to learn this week that Microsoft has announced that it will now bundle IE8 into it’s Windows Automatic Updates. This means that users will be presented with a priority update which will upgrade their web browser from IE6/7 to IE8.
There are also several campaigns raging throughout the Internet to finally get shot of IE6 including Bring Down IE6 pioneered by the excellent .net magazine and a useful little piece of javascript from IE6 Update. Although with the latter, however worthy the cause, I’m a little uneasy about the fact it pertains to be an official Windows message when in actual fact it’s not. It’s a little too like a Trojan tactic for my liking.
As much as this is all very encouraging, it may not have the impact many are hoping for as many the users still using IE6 have managed to resist upgrading to IE7. This may be down to a few reasons including users owning an illegal copy of Windows or being locked down in a corporate environment. I know this first hand as many non-tech people in my office still use IE6 as their primary browser as the BBC hasn’t even managed to roll out IE6 yet.
To this end, I’m afraid to say, the reports on the death of IE6 may be great exaggerated.
