IE6 Almost Dead In the US

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Posted by Unknown on Wednesday January 4, 2012 @02:35AM from the premature-graying-in-programmers-reduced dept.

SharkLaser writes "Microsoft, and the whole tech world, is celebrating the fact that use of Internet Explorer 6 has dropped below one percent in the US. 'Time to pop open the champagne because, based on the latest data from Net Applications, IE6 usage in the US has now officially dropped below 1 per cent!,' said Roger Capriotti, director of Internet Explorer marketing. 'IE6 has been the punch line of browser jokes for a while, and we've been as eager as anyone to see it go away.'"

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No reason to celebrate now. by dmesg0 · 2012-01-04 02:36 · Score: 4, Insightful

I'll celebrate when usage of all versions of IE drops below 1 percent.
1. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by Shikaku · 2012-01-04 02:37 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I'll celebrate when netcraft confirms it.
2. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by DCTech · 2012-01-04 02:38 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Why? IE9 is a completely good browser. It's on par with Chrome, but in fact it offers even more features and security than Firefox does currently, like sandboxing. It's also standards compliant and supports HTML5. There's nothing to hate about IE9.
3. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-04 02:41 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  It's also the only browser that supports GPOs. Firefox had somewhat of a start, but it's not officially supported and they keep changing the damn thing.
4. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by dmesg0 · 2012-01-04 02:41 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Why? IE9 is a completely good browser. It's on par with Chrome, but in fact it offers even more features and security than Firefox does currently, like sandboxing. It's also standards compliant and supports HTML5. There's nothing to hate about IE9.
  OK, you convinced me, I'll try it immediately. Does it come as .deb or .rpm? Or maybe I should compile it from source?
5. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by nitehawk214 · 2012-01-04 02:45 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I'll celebrate when netcraft confirms it.
  An instance where Netcraft rightly should be confirming something. My head exploded.
  
  --
  I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
6. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by TheNinjaroach · 2012-01-04 02:50 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  IE9 is a completely good browser.
  I wouldn't know. IE9 breaks websites that work in IE6, IE7, IE8, Firefox and Webkit-based browsers.
  
  I have the same feelings towards IE9 that I have towards 7 and 8 -- Microsoft's "better" browser is still not good enough.
  
  --
  I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
7. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by Kjella · 2012-01-04 02:53 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  No, but it does come with its own OS...
  
  --
  Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
8. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-04 02:59 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  http://www.chromium.org/administrators/policy-templates
9. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by drobety · 2012-01-04 03:00 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  An instance of someone able to write and post a message after his head exploded. This ... I don't ...
10. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by Tridus · 2012-01-04 03:01 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  You can also successfully run an organization without computers. What's your point?
  
  --
  -- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
11. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by equex · 2012-01-04 03:03 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  There's nothing to hate about IE9.
  You must be new here.
  
  --
  Can I light a sig ?
12. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by ozbon · 2012-01-04 03:04 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  And how many of those "200-300" opened tabs do you actually use on a regular (daily/hourly) basis? Personally, I've never really found a use for more than about 10-15 tabs at once - when going through a news reader and wanting to read individual articles, which get 'new-tabbed' - and even then I close them once I'm done.
  
  --
  I say we take off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...
13. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by jez9999 · 2012-01-04 03:07 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I don't want to like IE9, because MS is the company we love to hate... but I vastly prefer it to chrome.
  My first complaint: Chrome's gigantic header is 18 pixels taller than IE, on my netbook that extra 3% of the tiny screen that is unusable for content is kind of a big deal.
  Message from a guy who usually uses a decent sized monitor with a desktop:
  PLEASE use a browser designed for netbooks instead of telling browser makers to design browsers for your pathetically small screen! Some of us actually appreciate a decently-sized interface.
  
  --
  == Jez ==
  Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
14. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by webheaded · 2012-01-04 03:07 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  My first complaint: Chrome's gigantic header is 18 pixels taller than IE, on my netbook that extra 3% of the tiny screen that is unusable for content is kind of a big deal.
  Are you actually being serious right now? 18 pixels? I honestly thought this post was starting off as a funny joke and then you kept going. Seriously just...people like you are infuriating. You find the most ridiculous shit to complain about. I'm serious. This stupid war over the height of the header has gotten ridiculous now.
  
  Maybe the browser makers should just make a "netbook mode" and stop forcing those of us with large monitors use this tiny ass interface that makes it a pain in the ass to do things. It is the same reason people are pissed off at GNOME. One size does not fit all. A user with a 24" screen running at 1080 does not have the same needs as the guy with a 10" netbook running at 1024x600 or the guy with the Android tablet.
  
  --
  "Those who would sacrifice essential liberties for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - BenF
15. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by Bogtha · 2012-01-04 03:14 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Why? IE9 is a completely good browser.
  
  At the time, Internet Explorer 6 was a good browser too. The problem is that Microsoft have shown that they are willing to abuse their market share in anti-competitive ways. When Internet Explorer 6 had a dominant position in the web browser market, they killed development on the project and held the web back for years. Microsoft can't be trusted with browsers.
  
  It's also standards compliant and supports HTML5.
  
  No, it doesn't support HTML 5. Nothing does. HTML 5 isn't finished. At best you can say it has partial, unfinished support for HTML 5. And if Microsoft decide it's in their best interests to hold the web back again, that's what we'll be stuck with until Internet Explorer loses market share.
  
  --
  Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
16. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by avgjoe62 · 2012-01-04 03:15 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I've seen your post before, but on the off chance that you're not just getting paid to copy and paste, let me tell you that there IS a home button in Chrome.
  Click on "Customize and Control Google Chrome" (the wrench in the upper right corner).
  Click on "Options" (about two-thirds down in the list of choices, fifth from the bottom).
  On the first page that opens, "Basics", in the third section down, "Toolbar", check the box for "Show Home Button".
  Close out the options page and the "Home" icon will now be in your toolbar.
  
  --
  How come Slashdot never gets Slashdotted?
17. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by roman_mir · 2012-01-04 03:21 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  But I assume this OS can be downloaded from a free software site as source code?
  
  --
  You can't handle the truth.
18. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by tepples · 2012-01-04 03:28 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Personally, I've never really found a use for more than about 10-15 tabs at once - when going through a news reader and wanting to read individual articles, which get 'new-tabbed' - and even then I close them once I'm done.
  For one thing, articles often link to other interesting articles. (Case in point: anyone who finds Cracked or TV Tropes for the first time.) For another, what do you do when you know your laptop is going to be offline for a few hours, such as while riding in a vehicle? Some people just load a couple dozen tabs to read and close them over the course of the trip.
19. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by 1u3hr · 2012-01-04 03:49 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Back in the day Internet Explorer saved us everyone from the non-standard shit Netscape was trying to pull out.
  
  In the days before that, Microsoft seriously proposed using Word doc files as the webpage standard. Do you think they wouldn't have done it if they were the only browser? Netscape got impatient with slow moving web standards and made up their own. Somewhat arrogant, but not nefarious.
20. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-04 03:51 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  When IE 6 and 7 are no longer around, life will be a lot easier for web developers.
  Uh huh. So, what makes you think the same people who unleashed those on the world and burdened everyone else with the associated problems should deserve to be successful now just because they don't think they can get away with creating those problems anymore?
  
  Remember that the incompatibilities built into IE6 were no accident. But hey let's just give them a pass because they want to play nice now. That way they and all other companies know that if they can pull that shit, it's okay, there will be no backlash and everyone will sing your praises on Slashdot.
  
  We should celebrate IE9, even if we don't want to.
  Yes. We punish and shun individuals for less than that .. but if you're a corporation you can do no wrong!
21. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by Metabolife · 2012-01-04 03:53 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Yup, just head over to Piratebay. You can download both Windows and the movie Source Code for free.
22. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by man_of_mr_e · 2012-01-04 04:00 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Dude, lay off the paranoia. IE6 is 10 years old. It predates every other browser in use today, other than Opera.
  To say that Microsoft deliberately made it incompatible with browsers that didn't exist when it was written is a bit crazy.
  IE6 was the most standards compliant browser there was when it existed, even more so than Opera. WAY more so than Netscape. And Mozilla was nowhere close to a finished product.
  No, it was not perfect, and no, it didn't fully support the existing standards, but then neither did anyone else. IE6 is just old, it was not a plot to destroy standards compatibility.
  
  --
  If you need web hosting, you could do worse than here
23. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by Flammon · 2012-01-04 04:01 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Troll? Strawman? I don't know. Either way, completely wrong.
  
  IE9 is a completely good browser.
  Users said the same thing about IE6, so you're obviously not a web developer.
  
  It's on par with Chrome, but in fact it offers even more features and security than Firefox does currently, like sandboxing. It's also standards compliant and supports HTML5.
  IE9 is nowhere near Chrome or Firefox. You should be modded down for misinformation.
  In terms of features, here's a quick comparison.
  IE9 vs Firefox 9
  http://caniuse.com/#compare=y&b1=ie+9&b2=firefox+9
  IE9 vs Chrome 16
  http://caniuse.com/#compare=y&b1=ie+9&b2=chrome+16
  IE9's performance is also way behind - It barely wins on Sunspider and then loses badly on Kraken and V8 being up to 400% slower. Their 64bit build is even worse and the author didn't bother posting the results because they're so bad.
  http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/the-big-browser-benchmark-chrome-1615-vs-opera-11-vs-ie9-vs-firefox-98-vs-safari-5/17367
  
  There's nothing to hate about IE9.
  Sure there are. Besides not being as fast and not supporting standards as well as the others, it also only runs on Windows Vista and Windows 7. You're out of luck if you're running Windows XP, Linux or OS X. IE9 also has a new but buggy rendering engine. Here's one that I ran into a few days ago. http://www.ncf.ca/ncf/support/ie9_issue/index.html. Here's another http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6392826/mobile-table-crashes-ie9. There are more of these types of bugs in IE than all the other browsers combined. I still hate IE.
  
  --
  ayottesoftware.com
24. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by TimothyDavis · 2012-01-04 04:41 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  I really wish /. would allow you to undo accidental moderations without posting.
25. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by omfgnosis · 2012-01-04 04:44 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Because IE 9 isn't a problem, and it strongly indicates that the IE team decided to build a truly modern browser rather than eventually leave the browser market a laughing stock. It's clear why they made this decision, as they need a competent web experience to gain anything in the mobile space, and they'll quickly become irrelevant if they can't compete there.
  IE 9 is two things to celebrate: the first IE version built with real interoperability and respect for standards in mind, and a clear indication that Microsoft intends IE to be a platform on par with WebKit. If you have to worry about cross-browser compatibility, those are both great news. It's a shame you missed it when IE 9 came out.
  And lest we get off into accusations of bias, I was a long time advocate of IE ditching Trident entirely (essentially becoming a UI shell, presumably around WebKit), and regularly said so whenever I encountered members of the IE team online. I honestly did not believe Trident was reparable. They have shown that it was.
26. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by Penguinisto · 2012-01-04 04:48 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  IE6 was the most standards compliant browser there was when it existed, even more so than Opera
  [Citation Seriously Friggin' Needed]
  
  --
  Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
27. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by box4831 · 2012-01-04 05:00 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Reading many of the comments on this site, I don't believe having no head is a huge impediment to posting here.
  
  --
  Miller Lite tastes like water that's somehow managed to rot.
28. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by man_of_mr_e · 2012-01-04 05:22 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Obviously, you were not doing web development in 2001.
  http://www.quora.com/Why-has-Microsoft-failed-to-make-Internet-Explorer-web-standards-compliant-in-spite-of-years-of-browser-market-share-loss
  
  --
  If you need web hosting, you could do worse than here
29. Re:No reason to celebrate now. by omfgnosis · 2012-01-04 06:38 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  IE9 is the only browser I regularly use that does not render a very few websites correctly...
  Safari (my primary browser) renders a very few websites incorrectly too. So does Firefox, Chrome, IE 9. Of course, I develop websites for a living and have to test in all of these (as well as IE 7/8 usually), so I'm more likely to encounter incompatibilities than an end user. But they all definitely have mutual discrepancies.
  
  usually because of some obscure setting deep down that is trying to protect me ...and it takes more searching that I often care to do to turn it off ...
  Maybe, I can't really say because I don't know what you've encountered. My experience has been that IE9 struggles the most with sites that have custom code for IE 6-8 and don't properly exclude IE9 from the custom code.
  
  Firefox, Opera, Chrome do not seem to have the same issues ... ?
  That's awesome for you. I don't know what to say, except that every discussion of every browser has people making similar claims.
A cheer goes up by Smallpond · 2012-01-04 02:37 · Score: 4, Funny

Every web designer celebrates for 10 minutes. Then back to work on the CSS for that pesky div.
1. Re:A cheer goes up by tepples · 2012-01-04 03:10 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  its not inherently clear in the HTML how things are being laid out on the page
  It's not supposed to be clear from the HTML alone. It's supposed to be that you can swap the CSS and have the document laid out differently.
2. Re:A cheer goes up by macaddict · 2012-01-04 03:58 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  CSS is about separating content from design. That's the point. Go to CSS Zen Garden ( http://csszengarden.com/ ) to see what that means. Every example on that web site uses the exact same content. Only the CSS is changed.
  It is not a "developer" vs. "designer" situation. It just makes practical sense for development and maintenance of a site. If you use tables for layout, your site has become extremely difficult to update if you want to make major changes to the layout, especially with large, multi-page sites. With CSS, you change your stylesheet and it's done, site wide (see the CSS Zen Garden examples). The developer can concentrate on content and function, and leave the layout to the designers.
Bring out your dead browser by mcgrew · 2012-01-04 02:57 · Score: 3, Funny

IE6: I'm not dead!
MORTICIAN: What?
MS: Nothing -- here's your nine pence.
IE6: I'm not dead!
MORTICIAN: Here -- he says he's not dead!
MS: Yes, he is.
IE6: I'm not!
MORTICIAN: He isn't.
MS: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
IE6: I'm getting better!
MS: No, you're not -- you'll be stone dead in a moment.
MORTICIAN: Oh, I can't take him like that -- it's against regulations.
IE6: I don't want to go in the cart!
MS: Oh, don't be such a baby.
MORTICIAN: I can't take him...
IE6: I feel fine!
MS: Oh, do us a favor...
MORTICIAN: I can't.
MS: Well, can you hang around a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
MORTICIAN: Naaah, I got to go on to Robinson's -- they've lost nine today.
MS: Well, when is your next round?
MORTICIAN: Thursday.
IE6: I think I'll go for a walk.
MS: You're not fooling anyone y'know. Look, isn't there something you can do?
IE6: I feel happy... I feel happy.
[whop]
MS: Ah, thanks very much.
MORTICIAN: Not at all. See you on Thursday.
MS: Right.
[clop clop]
MORTICIAN: Who's that then?
MS: I don't know.
MORTICIAN: Must be a king.
MS: Why?
MORTICIAN: He hasn't got shit all over him.

--
Free Martian Whores!
Wrong, IE9 sucks by sakdoctor · 2012-01-04 03:00 · Score: 4, Interesting

I posted a comment almost identical to yours this year praising IE9, but today IE9 is not a good browser.
It's an old and crusty browser, because you know web stuff moves THAT fast.
As usual IE is tightly bound to windows, and yet again particular versions of windows. IE9 supports some HTML5 stuff sure. It also supports canvas, but canvas is useless without requestAnimationFrame. Session history management, asyncronous external Javascript, native Regex form validation
http://caniuse.com/ for the complete list of how embarrassingly old IE9 is.
So sorry, but your comment is around 9 months out of date.
The Walking Dead by assertation · 2012-01-04 03:07 · Score: 4, Funny

Something tells me that in February when I "tune in" ( okay, download ) to see what happens with "The Walking Dead" I'm going to see a scene with some people from Rick's group running frantically through a building. At one point they are going to dart into a closed room to escape. It will be a computer lab. There will be animated corpses rotting in the chairs. On screen, in front of them will be IE 6 running.
Nope by sakdoctor · 2012-01-04 03:13 · Score: 4, Insightful
Since you got modded up so high, I think you also need to be taken down a notch.
1. There is no way you'd say IE9 was on par with Chrome if you were a developer or even just peaked under the hood. Javascript performance is pathetic.
2. "Security features" never amount to actual security. Sounds good in the marketing blurb though.
3. HTML5 is not a tickbox. It's a collection of features, and IE has the worst support today.
4. I suggest we pre-emptively hate it, because we're going to get STUCK with it.
Bon Voyage Mon Ami by BeforeCoffee · 2012-01-04 06:05 · Score: 4, Funny

It's probably Stockholm Syndrome, but I'm ... I'm actually feeling sad about this! I spent a ton of time on my site hacking in IE6 support. Just last month I got my compy characters to FINALLY layout correctly in all cases on IE6. Ok, I can't resist a little war story ... In the past, the right hand column of character DIV's had a vertical offset of like 5 pixels. Why? WHY DID IT LAYOUT LIKE THAT?! There's no reason, no known peekaboo bug or whatever that I could figure was the cause ... it was just IE6 getting its digs in. It's like it had planned bugs that only I would see.
Memory un-management, DOM-splosions, layout goofs, CSS head scratchers - it was like trying to carry water with a bucket that has a bunch of rebel army bullet holes in it. One thing I could always count on, IE6's JavaScript implementation was juuust good enough. Me and Resig always had a way to squeak out of the jungle alive.
IE6: I beat you. I beat you silly countless times. I won! But, I never thought you'd actually die from the beating. It seems you finally have given up the ghost. R.I.P., ancient warrior. As you rot in the 8th circle of hell, I want you to know that while I cursed you and your creators as foul on a daily basis, I secretly enjoyed our time together.
Dave