Microsoft has responded to the news that YouTube is going to withdraw support from the ageing Internet Explorer 6 by expressing concern over the businesses that still use the browser.
The news appeared yesterday that YouTube would no longer render properly for IE6, and it was greeted with glee by web developers and designers everywhere.
However, Microsoft pointed out to TechRadar that it is already trying to bring its customers onto its latest browser IE8.
IE8 push
"Microsoft has consistently recommended that consumers upgrade to the latest version of our browser. Internet Explorer 8 offers improvements in speed, security and reliability as well as new features designed for the way people use the web," said Microsoft in a statement.
"While we recommend Internet Explorer 8 to all customers, we understand we have a number of corporate customers for whom broad deployment of new technologies across their desktops requires more planning."
The statement is exactly as expected from Microsoft, who feels that it must support legacy users, including businesses who may have bespoke applications built specifically for the browser.
However, with Google now switching off support for one of its most high-profile sites, those very same businesses will surely be looking to catch up with the rest of the internet and make the switch away from the much-maligned IE6.
Your comments (7) Click to add a new comment
lovlid
July 18th
7. "Some businesses are still stuck on Windows 2000 and unless things have changed recently, there is no upgrade from IE6. Firefox, or one of the other minor players, is the only option."
Yeah, right. When businesses change to firefox, the hackers will change their point of attack.
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eury360x
July 16th
6. IE8 is the best!
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tfawcett
July 15th
5. Some businesses are still stuck on Windows 2000 and unless things have changed recently, there is no upgrade from IE6. Firefox, or one of the other minor players, is the only option.
I prefer IE8 to all others to be honest. Having the fastest JS and/or rendering engine means sod all when the biggest influence on page speed is the broadband speeds in this country.
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gavin
July 15th
4. I dont think this needs to get into a "lets not support any IE" debate.
As a designer and developer I am happy to support IE7 & IE8 but I have now decided to draw the line with IE6. IE8 is actually an OK browser (compared to IE6 & 7) I am even happy with IE7 to be honest.
Good move by Youtube, means other big sites will hopefully follow suit (Facebook already has warnings for IE6 users) and we can hopefully get IE6 put to rest within 12 months.
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northerngeek
July 15th
3. Thank you Healeydave for being so patronising. Do you think people like myself are automatically unaware of alternatives? I use IE8 because I like it's features, it is noticably faster than my other browsers on this PC and I am rather fond of the layout.
I do have a copy of Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome installed and I use them all when developing sites (for which IE8's developer's tools are a dream). I consciously choose to use IE and I never find myself regretting it.
Seems to me that if anybody is blind to alternatives it's the guy who makes comments like yours. Congratulations for the level of pride you can take in your own narrowmindedness.
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healeydave
July 15th
2. YouTube didn't take it far enough in my opinion, Internet Explorer is awful at any version, they should have withdraw support for all IE versions :-)
Bl**dy Hell people install FireFox or Safari for Windows and you will notice how fast internet pages can load.
You will also realise perhaps your BroadBand link is in fact much faster than you thought without the sluggish IE impairing your experience!
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