Developers issue death warrant for IE6
.net magazine campaign calls on Microsoft to drop support for IE6
A campaign calling for the immediate death of Internet Explorer 6 is picking up pace, with a host of developers castigating the browser that 'hindered the development of the web'.
.net magazine is supporting a campaign to rid the world of IE6 – a browser that is still being used by a large proportion of people – asking the industry if the time has come for sites to no longer support IE6.
The magazine – a Future publication just like TechRadar – is hoping that Microsoft will port IE7 and IE8 to Windows 2000 allowing thousands of users to upgrade.
Shunned
"Clearly, IE7 can't be shunned: not supporting the current version of Microsoft's market-leading browser would be a crazy move. However, with its predecessor now approaching its eighth birthday – positively ancient in software terms – should designers now ignore it until it fades away?" asks .net.
"That's a really attractive thought," Kleber's Tom Muller answers, "but when a fifth or more of the audience still uses IE6, we can't just drop it."
It's a valid point, and will be repeated by web designers the world over if they considered dropping support for the notorious IE6, but .net's editor Dan Oliver insists that the time has come for the plug to be pulled.
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Do us a favour
"The premise is simple," Oliver told us. "Internet Explorer 6 is an antiquated browser, does not support web standards, and because of this should be phased out.
"Microsoft's lack of development in the web browser market means that many companies running Windows 2000 machines still rely on IE6 as they can't run IE7 or IE8 on this platform
"This means there's a large chunk of web users - approximately 20% - still accessing the web via IE6.
"Whilst this demographic still exists, clients will continue to pressure web designers to force sites to work in IE6, and web designers - not wanting to piss off clients - will continue to do so.
"The only way this situation can improve quickly is for Microsoft to port IE7 and IE8 to Windows 2000 (a move proposed by prominent web evangelists such as Bruce Lawson).
"So come on Microsoft, do us all a favour, and help us bury this horrible browser once and for all!"
There's more on the campaign over at .net at netmag.co.uk.
Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content. After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.