If you ask any web developer or website designer, what is the worst problem faced by them, 9 out of 10 will tell you; incompatible browsers. More specifically, people who are stuck on old, deprecated versions of Internet Browsers.
Internet Explorer 6 was the default browser bundled with all Windows PC’s and laptops since way back in 2001. This means hundreds of millions of people used IE6 by default. As Opera, Chrome, Safari and Firefox released more advanced and easy to use browsers, there still remained millions of people stuck on IE6, simply because they did not know how to or did not want to switch to an upgraded browser.
Microsoft released IE7, IE8 and now IE9, but there still existed computers running the old IE6.
Now, finally, after a concerted effort by Microsoft, they can finally announce that the dreaded IE6 is dead. In March 2011, Microsoft launched the site IE6CountDown.com, in an effort to raise awareness of upgrading one’s browser.
Here is what the website says,” Its name was Internet Explorer 6. Now that we’re in 2012, in an era of modern web standards, it’s time to say goodbye. This website is dedicated to watching Internet Explorer 6 usage drop to less than 1% worldwide, so more websites can choose to drop support for Internet Explorer 6, saving hours of work for web developers.”
As you can see in the image below, most of the world has got rid of IE6. In countries like USA, like than 1% of its users are on it. However, in China, more than 25% of the population is on IE6. This is a major disadvantage for Chinese Web Developers
In India too, 5.4% of its netizens access the web from IE6. While this may not be as little as countries with less than 1%, it signifies a big step. IE6 usage has dropped to an all time low and it may have reached a time where web dev’s can drop IE6 support and save them hours of useless work.
That being said, most Government sites still need to be accessed with deprecated browsers like IE6. For example: Mumbai Universities Website mu.ac.in is still optimized for IE6 and fails in some of the newer browsers. Its high time the Government upgrades their Web Infrastructure.
What do you think? How long will it take for India to get rid of these 5.4% IE6 users? Do let us know in the comments below.
Internet Explorer 6 was the default browser bundled with all Windows PC’s and laptops since way back in 2001. This means hundreds of millions of people used IE6 by default. As Opera, Chrome, Safari and Firefox released more advanced and easy to use browsers, there still remained millions of people stuck on IE6, simply because they did not know how to or did not want to switch to an upgraded browser.
Microsoft released IE7, IE8 and now IE9, but there still existed computers running the old IE6.
Now, finally, after a concerted effort by Microsoft, they can finally announce that the dreaded IE6 is dead. In March 2011, Microsoft launched the site IE6CountDown.com, in an effort to raise awareness of upgrading one’s browser.
Here is what the website says,” Its name was Internet Explorer 6. Now that we’re in 2012, in an era of modern web standards, it’s time to say goodbye. This website is dedicated to watching Internet Explorer 6 usage drop to less than 1% worldwide, so more websites can choose to drop support for Internet Explorer 6, saving hours of work for web developers.”
As you can see in the image below, most of the world has got rid of IE6. In countries like USA, like than 1% of its users are on it. However, in China, more than 25% of the population is on IE6. This is a major disadvantage for Chinese Web Developers
In India too, 5.4% of its netizens access the web from IE6. While this may not be as little as countries with less than 1%, it signifies a big step. IE6 usage has dropped to an all time low and it may have reached a time where web dev’s can drop IE6 support and save themselves hours of useless work.
That being said, most Government sites still need to be accessed with deprecated browsers like IE6. For example: Mumbai Universities Website mu.ac.in is still optimized for IE6 and fails in some of the newer browsers. Its high time the Government upgrades their Web Infrastructure.
What do you think? How long will it take for India to get rid of these 5.4% IE6 users? Do let us know in the comments below.
internet explorer crashes often, not a good browser to use many a times.