davidn: (Default)
[personal profile] davidn
This has to be the most interesting thing that Microsoft have done for a while. Everyone I know in our industry has been hoping for the worldwide use of Internet Explorer 6 (and more generally, Internet Explorer) to reduce to the point where nobody has to support it any more, but now Microsoft themselves seem to be heading a campaign to finally wipe the old version off the face of the earth.

It's been around since last year, but it's recently come up again because its usage dropped low enough for it to be officially declared dead in the Western world. Currently it's at 7.7% worldwide, with the page hopeful to get it down below 1% eventually. Only China now has a significant share of it, with several countries on the brink of passing the 1% mark - America managed it, so there's no reason we can't!

(A note, just in case, because one of the most frustrating things for anyone to say in these conversations is "Why should I change away from Internet Explorer? It works fine". Do you know why it works fine? Because people like me have spent days battering its demented interpretation of everything and anything into shape so that it will at least work somewhat like other browsers that actually make sense.)

Date: 2012-01-04 10:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] billyhicks.livejournal.com
Sadly my Grandma is one of the UK's 1.4%, but she can't really help it - she still uses Windows 98! It's the latest version supported on that system. Now in her 70s I can't imagine her buying a new computer anytime soon, even so it means that things like Facebook and Youtube barely work at all. Not that she's often on either.

Since I upgraded from XP to 7 last week I've also moved finally from IE to Firefox. It's the former's inability to load Facebook Timeline correctly that finally did it for me.

Date: 2012-01-05 12:24 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] crassadon.livejournal.com
It's strange to think of: I always thought Internet Explorer would be around forever, due mostly to the market share it held pre-Firefox. Even after nearly a decade of disorganized marketing telling people how bad Internet Explorer really is, it always seemed like it was the biggest, and that it was going to stay the biggest. Yet now IE finally does have to face up to what a terrible browser it really is.

It's been a long road, getting from there to here. . . .

Date: 2012-01-05 05:08 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dr-dos.livejournal.com
My official stance for any version of IE when I am not being paid to make the webpage is "Fuck you".

Alas the site I am getting paid to work on now still has like 8% of visitors on IE6. Somehow Safari is actually more popular than either Firefox or Chrome as well.

Date: 2012-01-08 04:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tamakun.livejournal.com
If there's anything that bugs me, it's that for some reason our workplace's Extranet/Intranet depends on IE - not IE6, mind you, but Firefox and Chrome just completely gum up the tables and makes it impossible to read or input data.

It's frustrating. The website originates from Australia, and since I'm in Canada, that ends up with us both having to use IE for a bit longer. I'd prefer never to use it, and I'd even like to uninstall it from my home computer, but I have to keep it for compatibility's sake. At least we're both at 1.4%.

Date: 2012-01-14 10:46 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Internet Explorer 9 is actually a respectable browser. Which is awesome, because it's far easier to convince people to upgrade to 9 than it is to make them switch.

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

May 2020

S M T W T F S
     12
3456789
1011121314 15 16
171819 20 212223
24252627 28 2930
31      

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Page generated Jul. 12th, 2025 08:14 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios