Microsoft keeps IE6 Life-Support Machine Switched On Until 2014

Will support it till 2014

[esllou]

[news.bbc.co.uk...]

Microsoft has underlined support for its Internet Explorer 6 web browser, despite acknowledging its flaws.

The software giant said it would support IE6 until 2014 - four years beyond the original deadline.

Critics - some of which have started an online campaign - want the eight-year-old browser mothballed because they claim it slows the online experience.

[swa66]

Let's say you're a new start-up web design company and trying to do it all legal. How are you going to run IE6 legally when you can't buy a license from Microsoft for an OS that still comes with the obsolete browser ?

The Microsoft way is to make you download a time bombed image every so often, not a real long term easy solution. Buying a license on ebay, how do you know the key is still valid and they didn't "sell" the key a dozen times over putting you in murky water at best.

Similarly how will you do IE7 once Vista is gone from the inventory at the shops out there ? Ah more regular downloads of timebombed images: way to go!

IE6 and IE7 will need to die soon enough, as more and more sites and new web pages will never have been tested on it soon enough.

As far as taking it personal: I've never taken it personal against the users that they do not upgrade. But there are different kinds of users that did not upgrade:

• There's the fanboys of IE6, for whatever -incomprehensible- reason: no mercy there.
  
• There's the users stuck due to corporate control preventing them from upgrading: lots of sympathy, but they are the ones who need to protest against their IT departments, so they'll be victims in the end no matter what.
  
• Then there's those who don't know any better. Maybe we need to show them the light at the end of the tunnel.
  

In the end it is indeed MSFT's problem and they should be held accountable. But it are those end users and IT departments who do push MSFT into continuing to supply patches for a bunch more years, and to continue to make blockers for preventing users from upgrading etc.

Till 2014 is far beyond reasonable in all objectivity.
2014: that's *WAY* beyond the lifespan of a machine bought to be old enough to even today be forced to run IE6.

The web needs to move on and every consecutive version of IE (6, 7 _and_ 8) are subsequently the biggest anchors holding back progress (like it or not, they are), and like it or not, the line will be cut at some point, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually it will. And the more of us who do cut the line the sooner the rest of us webmasters will be free to do so.

[johnnie]

Whenever I run IE, I use IE6.0 - From a user standpoint, I have not seen the need to upgrade.

Then what about security, tabbed browsing, rendering speed, etc.? Are you sure you made a thorough comparison? I'm sorry, but I just can't shake the notion that most IE6-users are either too lazy or scared to change. And to be honest, I don't see why MS should cater to these people instead of forcing them to switch. If IE8 is out of your league performance-wise, what about trying IE7, chrome, or firefox for that matter? IE6 is hopelessly outdated and simply is no longer an option if you want an optimal and compatible web experience.

From a webmaster standpoint, this is a very, very annoying on MS' part. Frankly, I have stopped coding for IE6. If it renders okay, then fine for you. If it doesn't, then thats your problem. Not user-friendly, but then again... How many car dealers keep spare parts for a 1980 Ford? I realize I may be losing business over this, but I simply refuse to support a horrible abomination simply because some are too lazy to ditch it.

[amznVibe]

The only OS they have that won't run IE7+ is Win2k (and WinME) which doesn't even have paid support available, so this has to be for political reasons.

I'm not going to worry about it, after this year I just won't even test on IE6 and users who insist on using it can just get used to things not looking right, just like NN4 users.

[lammert]

Cars made in the seventies don't have the safety features of modern cars, provide less comfort, consume more fuel per mile and generate more pollution than cars with modern engines. Just as with IE6 there are many reasons why drivers should switch to newer cars, but just as with IE6, it is not the task of the petrol stations to force that switch.

It is the own responsibility of the car/browser owner if he wants to use outdated technology which gives him less safety/security, less comfort and less features than newer technology would. And it is the task of the petrol station/site owners to serve them as they are valuable customers and may switch to new technology at any time.

[Gibble]

Petrol is one thing, finding parts for those old cars is another.

Do you think Ford still makes parts or issues recalls for the Pinto?

[incrediBILL]

It is the own responsibility of the car/browser owner if he wants to use outdated technology

Bad analogy because you simply cannot drive the old car without proper maintenance. If your old car is a gross polluter with billowing smoke, or leaves a trail of oil on the road, the cops will give you tickets and if you don't fix it the state won't renew your license and your old vehicle will be forced to be scrapped unless repaired or put away in storage (out of sight).

IE 6 hasn't had proper maintenance and it billows improper CSS so my site deems it a gross polluter of my layout.

[gn_wendy]

On one of my sites we have over 30% IE6 users... and it's a real issue for us.

We can't make the website 'better' or 'faster' because if we do we make it, for all intents and purposes, impossible for IE6 users to access the site.

We tried to make our site better with a recent relaunch and ended up having to recycle a bunch of the old code anyway.

This is the worst possible outcome of the IE6 issue - being stuck with it for another four years.

[digitsix]

I have already implemented something like this for my website. I hate IE6 and since chrome and firefox install to the users home directory most AD policies can be worked around since they arent installing to a system directory.

Anyway, I dont ban them, but they get a very ugly banner at the top of the page with a link to information on why they are seeing the banner...

[edited by: tedster at 2:09 am (utc) on Aug. 24, 2009]

[blackfish]

IE 6 is the fastest browser, but it is unsafe, we have installed security software

[edited by: tedster at 4:15 am (utc) on Aug. 29, 2009]
[edit reason] no personal links [/edit]

[koan]

DOS is also the fastest operating system, just don't expect to run modern applications on it.

[incrediBILL]

DOS is also the fastest operating system

That would be incorrect as the linear search used to locate files on large drives is sluggish at best and a massive file on FAT is also painfully slow to traverse.

The technology to speed it up is trivial, but you certainly wouldn't want too many files on it.