News

Microsoft Site Asks World To Stop Using IE 6

• By Kurt Mackie
• March 7, 2011

Microsoft wants to kill off its Internet Explorer 6 browser, or at least drop its usage to one percent worldwide.

On Friday, Microsoft launched the Internet Explorer 6 Countdown site, a new Web site devoted toward that goal. It features a map that currently shows IE 6 use at 12 percent globally, based on February data from Net Applications. Microsoft said its plan is to update the site every month until IE 6 use hits one percent worldwide, according to a blog explanation.

IE 6 is a near decade-old browser that has tripped up developers over the years who must sometimes code for the browser's quirks in parsing HTML. Killing IE 6 will save "hours of work for Web developers," Microsoft said.

The browser continues to be used, in large part, because it was distributed alongside the most widely used operating system to this day, Windows XP. Extended support for Windows XP continues until April 2014. Chances are that IE 6 will still be used through that time, since some businesses may have custom-made Web apps that depend on IE 6 behavior. Organizations can upgrade or use desktop virtualization as a solution; otherwise, they face a ticking time bomb, both in terms of getting support from Microsoft and overall security.

IE 6 is widely seen as a major security problem for organizations. The browser even caused international scandal when Google's corporate Web sites were hacked via an IE 6 and Windows flaw. The attacks on Google were traced to hackers based in China. Google cited the incident at the time as a cause for not complying with the Chinese government's local Internet search censorship rules. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed Google's stance.

At Microsoft's Countdown site, China currently lights up the scene in orange, having the highest number (34.5 percent) of IE 6 users. South Korea ranks as nation No. 2 with 24.8 percent use, followed by India (12.3 percent), Saudi Arabia (10.7 percent) and Taiwan (10.7 percent). IE 6 use in the United States is at 2.9 percent, near the bottom, according to the Net Applications data.

Web developers can help speed IE 6's demise by advising site visitors using IE 6 to upgrade their browsers. The code to push that warning to IE 6 users, which can be added to a Web site, can be accessed here.