Yep IE 8 is great because it supports html 4 and css 2 the right way. I have a feeling since it is not dying at all that it will be the next IE 6 of the 2010s as users do not want to leave. HTML 5 is going to have a serious problem if people keep using IE 8. It will be just a phone technology due to people waiting on businesses to leave IE 8 who wont leave IE 8 because people keep making websites that cater to it and it is a repeat all over again.
I would much rather see the headline of IE 9 falling before Chrome as it would mean we can move forward.
Hardly anyone uses IE 6 or IE 7 in the US besides a few corporations. Maybe 4% of users according to statecounter. IE 9 barely has 10% as average Joes do not like the UI and many businesses feel IE 8 is fine.
IE 8 is still over 80% of the IE market. It wont go away and it is the next IE 6 of the 2010s. So the article is pretty accurate.
You can think these things are just wants and live at home as an adult all you want. People everywhere are expected and looked down upon as irresponsible if they do not have these things and it is our job in life to earn them and keep them.
IN terms of GPL and competitors that is fine and dandy if you own an ISP or something, but for a real world task of making industrialized equipment as an example, I can't give that away. If I spent 2,000,000 developing the secret algorithms for something competitors do not have I then charge more for customers willing to use my product. A competitor will simply steal my code and then undersell me as he never had to fund the development. Now my product is no different than anyone elses but costs more.
I am discussing APIs here and not making modified versions of apps. That is the issue. This is problematic as MS would own 100% of all the code you ever wrote because you linked to Windows DLLS etc. That is what the GPL says and why it is BS. That is why GPL is bad and copyleft or LGPL is more appropriate for developers. If someone wants to rip off your editor app then I would be inclined to agree.
Do you use Visual Studio at work? Hell, did you use any include statement for any program you wrote while you were in school?
Therefore MS owns all your code right? Or Oracle if it was a Java class? Under your own definition a simple link means that entity or person owns the code. Where does it end?
If I write something awesome for a specialized task with R&D then I should keep it and profit from it. Even if the toolkit was open source initially.At that point people would be writing their own operating systems, apis, and so on if they wanted to own all the code.
GPL is wrong with linking. Yes, people hate hearing viral linking but it is a real problem in business. I see you went to MIT so I wont waste your time with these arguments but R&D and development is not free and yes anything with memory in it counts as a redistribution if I sell it.
So if I invent a robot with my own ai code but it uses GPL apis and links can I sell them? Nope
Thats redistributing. What if I onvested 5,000,000 making the code? Whoops competitors now use my code and undercut me because they didnt have to invest the 5,000,000. I go out of business.
Google gets a free ride because they are not redistributing. For everyone else who makes smart appliances you are screwed. Small business owners are too. You cant sell your company as that too counts as redistribution. People blasted Bill Gates for calling it viral but he has a point. If it links to gpl you dont own it.
If you made something that could make you a fortune, pay for your house, student loans, and a company of your own then you would understand why.
Case in point? Look at earlier this week when someone invented something with cameras that no one else could do in/. stories? Problem was the toolkit is under GPL. How is that fair? There work was worth money but the GPL forced them to give away the algorithms to conpetitors so a whole clone of the toolkit was needed.
What about the freedom to profit? It is a right for people to want to make money and why is that bad? Student loans, kids, retirement, and a car are considered basic rights and responsibilities. Aint got no money? Then you cant have any of it? Cry all you want but the grocery store doesnt care that you do great things for humanity when your kids are hungry. They just want your money.
So your rights if you own the code are important too. Thats life
Linux died on the netbook because customers couldnt run word and anti virus apps ( geeks said they needed them right?) and games. Bestbuy cant make their comissions selling win32 software and customers couldnt find their blu E to their internet. They want Windows. Windows mobile will gain popularity as Metro gains apps
Infact the IPad didnt sell well at first because customers wanted Windows and feared no apps.
This is why MS won. Windows despite its flaws had the apps and the pc was always developer friendly. Believe it or not windoes mobile is the most open platform. You have root access. Android is second open
Why is that even remotely funny? Being fired is demeaning, humiliating, and insulting.
How is it fair for this guys kids to be told they cant have presents this year because Daddys boss wants to buy a BMW? Or how for New Years we maybe homeless if we dont sell everything we own to pay rent?
Even if someone deserves to be fired its not fair for the kids.
XP support will end in 2013 so they can't say 10 more years. Their employees may need web access and I smirked at a few comments here where users had to buy their own machines from home to do their job as Google docs, gmail, and other sites simply wont work with their IE 6. haha
My guess is that or they will use an emulator like some businesses do with rally to run 30 year old COBOL IBM 370 apps on the mainframe. IE 6 can run for many many decades like this..... shudder... our poor children will support it.
So these are the 2 paths. Lets hope IT gets it this time and tells app writers to stop writing for a particular version of a browser for $1,000,000 and start to use standards like CSS 3 and HTML 5 so in 2021 we can use IE 17 just fine when HTMl 6 is out, and our old HTML 5 app will still run.:-)
For that kind of money it was a very stupid investment decision to bet $1,000,000 or more for a platform that becomes obsolete on average every 2 - 3 years! Anyone every hear of life cycle management? Hello?!
Keep in mind just last year in 2010 BestBuy still sold netbooks with XP. Almost 2 years ago for a few months after Windows 7 was out. These users think XP is new because their computer is new.
Also corporations use XP because Vista sucked so bad. They upgrade PCs every 4 - 5 years and windows 7 is out less than half of those. That means they used XP and many medium to large corporate buyers who came later, bought the Windows 7 PCS and re-wiped them with XP because their software still requires it or IE 6.
XP is dying and is on its way out. It will be probably 2 more years before all but the largest corporations finally ditch it. For average Joes next year XP will start to trickle as they finally move to Windows 7.
IE 6 was a great browser back in 2001. It just needed to die by 2003 when it was starting to age. IE 7 was more advertised as a Vista browser and was not ported to XP until later but by then it was too late. Cost accountants at work noticed they could save a fortune by being behind in the times and viewed upgrading as cost centers. Prior to 1999 they were viewed as assets as ways to outdo the competition by being up to date. That sealed IE 6s fate.
I hated IE for that very reason as I wanted Netscape to still succeed! I resisted using it for a few years.
Netscape 4.7 was worse than IE 6.I myself started using it in 2003 all the way until Mozilla Firefox was in beta.
It made logical sense for any business to use the cutting edge 2001 IE 6 browser before 2004. The mistake was that MS let is become insecure and left it out in the cold for dead and disbanded its IE team.
Sure Chrome 15 is out now and is a great browser and IE 10 is good too which will be out soon.... however in 2021 I would be caught dead using these apps at their current version. They would blow goatballs as much as IE 6 does today. Keep in mind the hacked CSS was still brand new and never implemented before in 2001 when IE 6 was out. Netscape never supported CSS and the box model was standardized after IE 6 was in RC stage. This made rendering different requiring hacks but the W3c did not have the proper standard implementation yet. You can't blame MS for that back in 2001?
It is certainly most not fine or just works in 2011.
The first and foremost problem is that XP support is going to end. What are you going to do when the next Daqua worm shuts down your lan for a day? How much will that cost? $1,000,000 easily if you have more than 200 employers. Now compare it to the cost to upgrade that intranet app? Get the idea?
IE is the only corporate browser that is not on a 6 week upgrade cycle and it is problematic as suppliers and other companies the employer depends on no longer support IE 6. If you demand them to use IE 6 like Volkswagen does, they make likely not be able to as they will be rushing to Windows 7 before August 2013 when EOL for XP happens.
Infact, IE 6 & 7 already have EOL and are NOT PATCHED.
IT needs to grow a pair and better sell themselves to management. IE 6/XP is a liablity waiting to happen and it is therefor an investment to edge agaisnt rather than a usless expensive for the geeks in the basement.
Even those in the I.T. field do not know Chrome, Firefox, and IE do not run fully sandboxed under XP because the ancient kernel lacks DEP (not just for some services), ASLR, and exception handling api in VS 2010 that are all availabe with Windows Vista and up. Ask any large company that migrated to Windows 7 what the immediate benefits were. The first thing they will say is reduced TCO and downtime from viruses.
And if your company makes its new intranet IE 9 compatible it means it uses open standards. No matter have to use each version and rewrite etc. The app will work in IE 10, IE 11, and so on. Sell that too management as they do not want to go through this again nor stick with more outdated browsers. IE 9 is a great browser today but I sure as would not want to be using it in 2021 10 years from now. That would be crazy!
Why should Chinese pirates and corporate IT departments being overun by accountants looking only to boost the company's share price cause the rest of us to suffer and experience the real web only with our Iphones and Andriods? 10% of the lower denominator dictates the rest of the 90%, which in turn empowers the bean counters as they know they can demand IE 7 compatibility.
Look. It is not like IE 6 came out just last year or anything. Hell IE 8 is 2009. Infact it is early 2009 and was developed in 2008. It is 2011 so I think that is a great compromise.
IE 6 EOL was in 2008 and I believe the EOL for IE 7 was a year or too ago as well. CEOs and workers want and need IPAD access to their intranet apps and metro apps for Windows 8 and Windows 7 mobile. IE 6 is a thorn and wont ever go away unless something is done.
They had years and years and years. It is EOL and the rest of the world will be better off not just for HTML 5, but rather OEM computer makes can stop shipping drivers for XP. Windows 7 can not be adopted if these silly old requirements wont ever go away. This will mean cheaper computers for the rest of us.
Hey. iE 8 is a BIG improvement over 6 or 7. Xp will end early 2013 and I see it ending already. In the US at least it is falling very fast to just 27% of users from 50% last March. Ie 8 will die off with it.
Windows 7 can boot fine from uefi. The first Uefi boards are out and boot windows in half tje time. You can also turn efi off and use bios for linux too. No biggie. Efi does not have 30 years of bugs for ancient windows worjarounds either.
Do you use an appropriate doc type? If not your site will render in IE 7 mode. Do you use xhtml? IE 8s only major flaw is xhtml can go into quirks mode if not done right if you include ms xml which is not w3c supported anyway.
IE 9 renders perfectly just like chrome and firefox. Only thing missing is text shadow in css 3 and some html 5 which Ie 10 will include soon
Godsend longterm, but nightmate short term. XP really is an inappropriate os to use in 2011. No aslr, dep for all services, trim command, html 5, uac, default admin write, usb 3, the list goes on.
Even firefox and chrome run without dep, aslr, and other security features in XP. Management does not know this.
Upgrading an intranet to IE 8 will make it work in any future version of IE. All these things will make it a dream at work, but a nightmare for the bean counters and CFOs who are ignorant and demand their bonuses. Corporations have been too cheap for too long. You cant not invest and expect more cash to keep coming in
Its one thing to keep costs down but another to never ever upgrade to boost its share price.
Companies realize company cars wear down, equipment fails, things wear out amd have limited life spans. Oh but not computers thats different. Look it turns on therefore its fine.
Viruses get in through obsolete products, replacement pcs dont have drivers, that uber cool ssd ultrabook the ceo wants cant use it because XP doesnt support the trim command, etc. These things add up.
XP is dying. G.statcounter.com show only 27% of Americans use it anymore. The rest are in china with IE 6. XPs market share goes down 10-15% every year. That means teen usage as corps migrate to Windows 7 by next summer. IE 8 is semi modern and finally does css 2 and html 4 and a decent upgrade for XP users.
A thousand web developers, security professionals, and html 5 enthusiasts will open champaign bottles and celebration!
Normally slashdotters do not agree with Microsofts practices but this is one which is a smart and well recieved.
With XP dying fast in the US where it will have marketshare in just the teens next summer, it means HTML 5. IE 8 wont go away as half of lusers switch back to it from IE 9 because of the gui.
To corp users whinning I have one word. UPGRADE! Its 2011! If you still use IE 6 or IE 7 with no migration plan you are incompentent. Penny wise but dollar dumb if you think saving $500,000 now but loose $2,000,000 because the lan went down due to daqua infecting every client through IE 7 and flash 8 on 10 year old XP. If you work in such an environment then print this story to your boss? The era of developing for one browser every 8 years is over.
Another reason to upgrade? Your now standards compliant intranet app will run on IE 9 also, and IE 10, and IE 14 and so on. The upgrade train stops when you develop to later open standard browsers.
I am on a PC I am about to rewipe. Out of coursity I did what you said and did a bing search (because Google is better at filtering malware) lesbo titties. After three sites sure enough I click on a video and it was a *.mpg.exe file. Avast did not pick it up. I then downloaded and still. I even scanned it and said the file was ok.
I know better than to open it so I got a kick out of this. But MSE would have banned that just because of the obvious and very old.mpg.exe trick is IE 6/XP era and a decade old that I would assume even Windows 7 should theoritically refuse to run.
I am thinking there are better free anti virus options
Slashdot Mirror
Yep IE 8 is great because it supports html 4 and css 2 the right way. I have a feeling since it is not dying at all that it will be the next IE 6 of the 2010s as users do not want to leave. HTML 5 is going to have a serious problem if people keep using IE 8. It will be just a phone technology due to people waiting on businesses to leave IE 8 who wont leave IE 8 because people keep making websites that cater to it and it is a repeat all over again.
I would much rather see the headline of IE 9 falling before Chrome as it would mean we can move forward.
Hardly anyone uses IE 6 or IE 7 in the US besides a few corporations. Maybe 4% of users according to statecounter. IE 9 barely has 10% as average Joes do not like the UI and many businesses feel IE 8 is fine.
IE 8 is still over 80% of the IE market. It wont go away and it is the next IE 6 of the 2010s. So the article is pretty accurate.
You can think these things are just wants and live at home as an adult all you want. People everywhere are expected and looked down upon as irresponsible if they do not have these things and it is our job in life to earn them and keep them.
IN terms of GPL and competitors that is fine and dandy if you own an ISP or something, but for a real world task of making industrialized equipment as an example, I can't give that away. If I spent 2,000,000 developing the secret algorithms for something competitors do not have I then charge more for customers willing to use my product. A competitor will simply steal my code and then undersell me as he never had to fund the development. Now my product is no different than anyone elses but costs more.
I am discussing APIs here and not making modified versions of apps. That is the issue. This is problematic as MS would own 100% of all the code you ever wrote because you linked to Windows DLLS etc. That is what the GPL says and why it is BS. That is why GPL is bad and copyleft or LGPL is more appropriate for developers. If someone wants to rip off your editor app then I would be inclined to agree.
Lets take your argument to the next level then?
Do you use Visual Studio at work? Hell, did you use any include statement for any program you wrote while you were in school?
Therefore MS owns all your code right? Or Oracle if it was a Java class? Under your own definition a simple link means that entity or person owns the code. Where does it end?
If I write something awesome for a specialized task with R&D then I should keep it and profit from it. Even if the toolkit was open source initially.At that point people would be writing their own operating systems, apis, and so on if they wanted to own all the code.
GPL is wrong with linking. Yes, people hate hearing viral linking but it is a real problem in business. I see you went to MIT so I wont waste your time with these arguments but R&D and development is not free and yes anything with memory in it counts as a redistribution if I sell it.
So if I invent a robot with my own ai code but it uses GPL apis and links can I sell them? Nope
Thats redistributing. What if I onvested 5,000,000 making the code? Whoops competitors now use my code and undercut me because they didnt have to invest the 5,000,000. I go out of business.
Google gets a free ride because they are not redistributing. For everyone else who makes smart appliances you are screwed. Small business owners are too. You cant sell your company as that too counts as redistribution. People blasted Bill Gates for calling it viral but he has a point. If it links to gpl you dont own it.
Just google router xompanies? Gnu went after them
If you made something that could make you a fortune, pay for your house, student loans, and a company of your own then you would understand why.
Case in point? Look at earlier this week when someone invented something with cameras that no one else could do in /. stories? Problem was the toolkit is under GPL. How is that fair? There work was worth money but the GPL forced them to give away the algorithms to conpetitors so a whole clone of the toolkit was needed.
What about the freedom to profit? It is a right for people to want to make money and why is that bad? Student loans, kids, retirement, and a car are considered basic rights and responsibilities. Aint got no money? Then you cant have any of it? Cry all you want but the grocery store doesnt care that you do great things for humanity when your kids are hungry. They just want your money.
So your rights if you own the code are important too. Thats life
Yes I advocate the BSD license.
I disagree.
Linux died on the netbook because customers couldnt run word and anti virus apps ( geeks said they needed them right?) and games. Bestbuy cant make their comissions selling win32 software and customers couldnt find their blu E to their internet. They want Windows. Windows mobile will gain popularity as Metro gains apps
Infact the IPad didnt sell well at first because customers wanted Windows and feared no apps.
This is why MS won. Windows despite its flaws had the apps and the pc was always developer friendly. Believe it or not windoes mobile is the most open platform. You have root access. Android is second open
Why is that even remotely funny? Being fired is demeaning, humiliating, and insulting.
How is it fair for this guys kids to be told they cant have presents this year because Daddys boss wants to buy a BMW? Or how for New Years we maybe homeless if we dont sell everything we own to pay rent?
Even if someone deserves to be fired its not fair for the kids.
What is wrong with people?
The point is they need a case to fire someone. Not to increase productivity. I know from experience.
XP support will end in 2013 so they can't say 10 more years. Their employees may need web access and I smirked at a few comments here where users had to buy their own machines from home to do their job as Google docs, gmail, and other sites simply wont work with their IE 6. haha
My guess is that or they will use an emulator like some businesses do with rally to run 30 year old COBOL IBM 370 apps on the mainframe. IE 6 can run for many many decades like this. .... shudder ... our poor children will support it.
So these are the 2 paths. Lets hope IT gets it this time and tells app writers to stop writing for a particular version of a browser for $1,000,000 and start to use standards like CSS 3 and HTML 5 so in 2021 we can use IE 17 just fine when HTMl 6 is out, and our old HTML 5 app will still run. :-)
For that kind of money it was a very stupid investment decision to bet $1,000,000 or more for a platform that becomes obsolete on average every 2 - 3 years! Anyone every hear of life cycle management? Hello?!
Idiots
Keep in mind just last year in 2010 BestBuy still sold netbooks with XP. Almost 2 years ago for a few months after Windows 7 was out. These users think XP is new because their computer is new.
Also corporations use XP because Vista sucked so bad. They upgrade PCs every 4 - 5 years and windows 7 is out less than half of those. That means they used XP and many medium to large corporate buyers who came later, bought the Windows 7 PCS and re-wiped them with XP because their software still requires it or IE 6.
XP is dying and is on its way out. It will be probably 2 more years before all but the largest corporations finally ditch it. For average Joes next year XP will start to trickle as they finally move to Windows 7.
IE 6 was a great browser back in 2001. It just needed to die by 2003 when it was starting to age. IE 7 was more advertised as a Vista browser and was not ported to XP until later but by then it was too late. Cost accountants at work noticed they could save a fortune by being behind in the times and viewed upgrading as cost centers. Prior to 1999 they were viewed as assets as ways to outdo the competition by being up to date. That sealed IE 6s fate.
I hated IE for that very reason as I wanted Netscape to still succeed! I resisted using it for a few years.
Netscape 4.7 was worse than IE 6.I myself started using it in 2003 all the way until Mozilla Firefox was in beta.
It made logical sense for any business to use the cutting edge 2001 IE 6 browser before 2004. The mistake was that MS let is become insecure and left it out in the cold for dead and disbanded its IE team.
Sure Chrome 15 is out now and is a great browser and IE 10 is good too which will be out soon. ... however in 2021 I would be caught dead using these apps at their current version. They would blow goatballs as much as IE 6 does today. Keep in mind the hacked CSS was still brand new and never implemented before in 2001 when IE 6 was out. Netscape never supported CSS and the box model was standardized after IE 6 was in RC stage. This made rendering different requiring hacks but the W3c did not have the proper standard implementation yet. You can't blame MS for that back in 2001?
There is a huge hype over Star Wars the Old Republic which will be released next week as probably the biggest MMO in history!
A lot of people like myself who have lost interest in Star Wars are showing a strong interest again.
It is certainly most not fine or just works in 2011.
The first and foremost problem is that XP support is going to end. What are you going to do when the next Daqua worm shuts down your lan for a day? How much will that cost? $1,000,000 easily if you have more than 200 employers. Now compare it to the cost to upgrade that intranet app? Get the idea?
IE is the only corporate browser that is not on a 6 week upgrade cycle and it is problematic as suppliers and other companies the employer depends on no longer support IE 6. If you demand them to use IE 6 like Volkswagen does, they make likely not be able to as they will be rushing to Windows 7 before August 2013 when EOL for XP happens.
Infact, IE 6 & 7 already have EOL and are NOT PATCHED.
IT needs to grow a pair and better sell themselves to management. IE 6/XP is a liablity waiting to happen and it is therefor an investment to edge agaisnt rather than a usless expensive for the geeks in the basement.
Even those in the I.T. field do not know Chrome, Firefox, and IE do not run fully sandboxed under XP because the ancient kernel lacks DEP (not just for some services), ASLR, and exception handling api in VS 2010 that are all availabe with Windows Vista and up. Ask any large company that migrated to Windows 7 what the immediate benefits were. The first thing they will say is reduced TCO and downtime from viruses.
And if your company makes its new intranet IE 9 compatible it means it uses open standards. No matter have to use each version and rewrite etc. The app will work in IE 10, IE 11, and so on. Sell that too management as they do not want to go through this again nor stick with more outdated browsers. IE 9 is a great browser today but I sure as would not want to be using it in 2021 10 years from now. That would be crazy!
Why should Chinese pirates and corporate IT departments being overun by accountants looking only to boost the company's share price cause the rest of us to suffer and experience the real web only with our Iphones and Andriods? 10% of the lower denominator dictates the rest of the 90%, which in turn empowers the bean counters as they know they can demand IE 7 compatibility.
Look. It is not like IE 6 came out just last year or anything. Hell IE 8 is 2009. Infact it is early 2009 and was developed in 2008. It is 2011 so I think that is a great compromise.
IE 6 EOL was in 2008 and I believe the EOL for IE 7 was a year or too ago as well. CEOs and workers want and need IPAD access to their intranet apps and metro apps for Windows 8 and Windows 7 mobile. IE 6 is a thorn and wont ever go away unless something is done.
They had years and years and years. It is EOL and the rest of the world will be better off not just for HTML 5, but rather OEM computer makes can stop shipping drivers for XP. Windows 7 can not be adopted if these silly old requirements wont ever go away. This will mean cheaper computers for the rest of us.
Hey. iE 8 is a BIG improvement over 6 or 7. Xp will end early 2013 and I see it ending already. In the US at least it is falling very fast to just 27% of users from 50% last March. Ie 8 will die off with it.
Windows 7 can boot fine from uefi. The first Uefi boards are out and boot windows in half tje time. You can also turn efi off and use bios for linux too. No biggie. Efi does not have 30 years of bugs for ancient windows worjarounds either.
Then you say sure I will fix. ... For $100,000 :-)
See everyone wins but the beancounters.
Do you use an appropriate doc type? If not your site will render in IE 7 mode. Do you use xhtml? IE 8s only major flaw is xhtml can go into quirks mode if not done right if you include ms xml which is not w3c supported anyway.
IE 9 renders perfectly just like chrome and firefox. Only thing missing is text shadow in css 3 and some html 5 which Ie 10 will include soon
Godsend longterm, but nightmate short term. XP really is an inappropriate os to use in 2011. No aslr, dep for all services, trim command, html 5, uac, default admin write, usb 3, the list goes on.
Even firefox and chrome run without dep, aslr, and other security features in XP. Management does not know this.
Upgrading an intranet to IE 8 will make it work in any future version of IE. All these things will make it a dream at work, but a nightmare for the bean counters and CFOs who are ignorant and demand their bonuses. Corporations have been too cheap for too long. You cant not invest and expect more cash to keep coming in
Its one thing to keep costs down but another to never ever upgrade to boost its share price.
Companies realize company cars wear down, equipment fails, things wear out amd have limited life spans. Oh but not computers thats different. Look it turns on therefore its fine.
Viruses get in through obsolete products, replacement pcs dont have drivers, that uber cool ssd ultrabook the ceo wants cant use it because XP doesnt support the trim command, etc. These things add up.
XP is dying. G.statcounter.com show only 27% of Americans use it anymore. The rest are in china with IE 6. XPs market share goes down 10-15% every year. That means teen usage as corps migrate to Windows 7 by next summer. IE 8 is semi modern and finally does css 2 and html 4 and a decent upgrade for XP users.
A thousand web developers, security professionals, and html 5 enthusiasts will open champaign bottles and celebration!
Normally slashdotters do not agree with Microsofts practices but this is one which is a smart and well recieved.
With XP dying fast in the US where it will have marketshare in just the teens next summer, it means HTML 5. IE 8 wont go away as half of lusers switch back to it from IE 9 because of the gui.
To corp users whinning I have one word. UPGRADE! Its 2011! If you still use IE 6 or IE 7 with no migration plan you are incompentent. Penny wise but dollar dumb if you think saving $500,000 now but loose $2,000,000 because the lan went down due to daqua infecting every client through IE 7 and flash 8 on 10 year old XP. If you work in such an environment then print this story to your boss? The era of developing for one browser every 8 years is over.
Another reason to upgrade? Your now standards compliant intranet app will run on IE 9 also, and IE 10, and IE 14 and so on. The upgrade train stops when you develop to later open standard browsers.
I am on a PC I am about to rewipe. Out of coursity I did what you said and did a bing search (because Google is better at filtering malware) lesbo titties. After three sites sure enough I click on a video and it was a *.mpg.exe file. Avast did not pick it up. I then downloaded and still. I even scanned it and said the file was ok.
I know better than to open it so I got a kick out of this. But MSE would have banned that just because of the obvious and very old .mpg.exe trick is IE 6/XP era and a decade old that I would assume even Windows 7 should theoritically refuse to run.
I am thinking there are better free anti virus options