Slashdot Mirror
MS — Dropping IE6 Support "Not an Option"
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft wants to see IE6 gone as much as anyone else, but the company isn't going to make the decision for its users anytime soon. The software giant has been pushing IE6 and IE7 users to move to IE8 ever since it arrived in March 2009, but it's still up to the user to make the final decision to upgrade: 'The engineering point of view on IE6 starts as an operating systems supplier. Dropping support for IE6 is not an option because we committed to supporting the IE included with Windows for the lifespan of the product. We keep our commitments. Many people expect what they originally got with their operating system to keep working whatever release cadence particular subsystems have. As engineers, we want people to upgrade to the latest version. We make it as easy as possible for them to upgrade. Ultimately, the choice to upgrade belongs to the person responsible for the PC.'" Of course some big Web sites aren't waiting for Microsoft. Reader Yamir writes, "Google's Orkut, a social networking service popular in Brazil and India, has started warning IE6 users that the browser will no longer be supported. Just last month, YouTube started showing a similar message."
I don't want to upgrade from IE6 for one very simple reason: I think the interfaces of the later IE versions suck donkey balls.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
The first link is about MSFT's logo, not about IE6. What am I missing here?
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
Come on, Microsoft, if you're trying to end-of-life an operating system that's actively being deployed on Netbooks, what's the problem with turning off support for IE6?
I'm pretty sure that Microsoft are *happy* that these websites are dropping support and guiding their users in the right direction. That'll make things easier for Microsoft to move forward too. They put their focus behind Internet Explorer 8 now, and of course want to do that. But I can understand their stance -- their customers would raise hell if they just plain made an exception from their product lifecycle policy for the web browser, that just happens to be among the most used products in Windows there is.
So all in all, this feels like a non-story to me.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
I don't understand why dropping support would mean that IE 6 stops working. IE 6 will continue to work just as it always has unless Microsoft intentionally cripples it. Just because the Internet no longer supports IE 6 does not mean that IE 6 does not work.
I see the glass as full with a FoS of 2.
But they aren't trying to KILL IT, they just want it to DIE.
Like you're rich Uncle.
Something tells me that anyone running any of those OSs is not real concerned with whether or not their software is up to date.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
Not exactly. IE6 is part of Windows XP. If XP is supported, so is IE6. That's basically what TFA says.
And yeah, i really wish XP will have dignified death, not like NT4 - which is still around :(
TMI man, TMI.
That's the point. IE 6 was designed to work with a specific set of web interfaces that Microsoft has limited control over. If websites stop using those interfaces, then all bets are off. IE 6 still works. It just doesn't work with modern standards that it was never designed to work with.
I see the glass as full with a FoS of 2.
You may have luck with gnucash, but honestly, if you're looking to import a Money file, you may be SOL. Microsoft is well known for its cryptic file formats and total lack of interoperability.
If Money can export your file into something like QIF or OFX, you'll have more options.
.
Quite to the contrary. Microsoft makes it very difficult for users to upgrade to the latest version. FireFox and Opera both still support the current versions of their browsers on Windows 2000. Yet Microsoft had dropped Windows 2000 from their list of OS's supported by their newer browsers long ago, even when Windows 2000 was supported by Microsoft.
Have you ever wondered why all the other browser developers can support Windows 2000 while Microsoft is completely unable to? I mean, if the Microsoft engineers say they want to make it easy for people to upgrade, then I'm sure there must be some fundamental technical issue with IE that stymies the engineers, and prevents them from doing what they say they want to do. What is the problem that prevents Microsoft from bringing newer versions of IE to Windows 2000?
Not exactly. IE6 is part of Windows XP. If XP is supported, so is IE6. That's basically what TFA says.
And yeah, i really wish XP will have dignified death, not like NT4 - which is still around :(
What's wrong with NT4? By the time of SP6a, it was a mature, stable OS. The only reason my former company moved away from NT was due to lack of drivers for newer PCs. The OS was stable and the number of system crashes per month for 250 system was less than 5. We kept track to remind people of how bad the Macs were that we replaced, which was a MUCH higher number. This was back in the late 1990's.
And now, XP is a mature, stable OS worth keeping around. It will run on tiny video cards, relatively slow processors and enjoys a level of driver support that surpasses NT4 by a wide margin.
Vista is heralded as the next great OS, and turned out to be ME with an new interface.
Windows 7 is just a redress of the Vista kernal and with a few new tricks added.
I will stick with XP for another few years, thank you very much. I prefer stable and predictable over cutting-edge. Call it an economically-wise business decision...uptime = people working.
Bearded Dragon
"ithey would simply stop accepting the browser at ALL OF THEIR SITES."
Except for that one site that lets you upgrade to IE 7 or 8. That would be an important one.
Think about that...
Ubuntu LTS is to be supported for 5 years, but only with limited backported software, not even the most important software package like major upgrade of gnome, firefox, open office are always available in the backport repro.
while Every release of Windows is LTS, and as long as 10 years! Also, new core software upgrade are usually offered even after a long time. (IE8, Live Messenger 9, Office 2007 on XP, a 6 years old product!)
On Linux? Even if you get the source, the chance of compiling the latest software bits on a 6 years old box is unlikely...Either kernel updates are needed, or glibc, or missing libraries, or the dependent libraries needs new GCC...usually end up upgrading GCC+Glibc+Kernel+whatsoever to get some new software. Or to put it simply, either spend a few days to figure that out, compile and install the dependencies else where, or to upgrade the distro.
Hey but I just want that new software, but keeping all my old software and configure...they didn't break and I don't want to touch them.
Besides unstable hardware support, I have been using Linux for 10+ years and this is the single thing that I hate most...when will debian package support libraries of different version installed side by side...?
Think about it...I think Microsoft is really doing an excellent job here. Although DLL Hell induced problem sometimes do happen (but a lot less since XP...), but still when they are still adding new features for a 6 years old OS. What else can you expect?