One huge step forward for the web as a whole would be to end support for IE6. It’s filled with bad quirks and is the primary source of Microsoft’s drag on the web. At Mozilla we generally encourage people to upgrade to Firefox, because it’s light years ahead of any version of IE, but we’d be happy for people to upgrade to IE7 or any other modern browser like Safari or Chrome.
It sounds like some people in Norway have started to band together and just choose not to support it. But one thing that would really help is to just pick a date and have it spread world wide.
My suggestion is for everyone to just say that Dec 31st, 2009 is the last day it should be supported – drop support from libraries, stop testing, etc. IE6 usage is already sliding quickly and it’s time to help it across the line. The web needs an upgrade.
Update: There’s a great set from Norway on flickr that Paul Kim pointed out.
I guess what is happening in Norway should be a sign for us, web developpers. We should start those banners less than 1 year after the new version comes out, for example let’s say that we should do that for IE7 the first februar 2010.
And why wait ’till end of December, I think we should stop support it sooner (like 1st July)
I was thinking that 6/6 might be a good date but it’s too soon – I feel like end of year the market numbers for IE6 will be low enough anyway where it will be a no-brainer. It would be nice to just accelerate it and give people the ability to plan.
I completely support your idea, but it will prove interesting to see what (if any) difference it makes without educating the corporations, government agencies, etc. that still insist on forcing IE6 on their employees. They have the real muscle in getting Microsoft to accelerate the long-overdue death of IE6 (officially supported until something insane, like mid-2011, I think).
I think that if the public web (not corporations) makes the choice to not support IE6 it will drive agencies and large corporations that still use IE6 that they need to upgrade. Think of it as demand-driven end of life instead of supply-driven end of life.
For the sake of our collective sanity, I hope it ends up working that way. It would at least put pressure on them to have bits of the web normally used start dropping support for the only browser they allow.
If those groups start getting more pressure from us, out here in the mostly free world of the web, they need to start putting pressure on the vendors they work with to start supporting IE7 for things like those piece of crap intranet apps that require IE6 (and ONLY IE6). Without approaching it from the right angle, though, it might just make for a lot of pissed of employees who can’t do a thing about it.
Ending on the point I’d like to drive home: I sincerely hope each and every library and major site picks up on your idea, and that it picks up where the Norway efforts have left off to build into a proper, overwhelmingly successful movement.
The best thing you can do is to help spread the word – blog about it, write about it on twitter, tell your friends, join the facebook group, etc.
Already blogged about it.
I would do more, but I’d probably break something. Took me over two years just to realize I can tag posts. That, and the whole blogging anonymous thing puts a bit of a damper on really getting into social networks.
SourceForge.net recently did just that. Certainly a step in the right direction, no?
It’s a start!
So tell me, when can we drop support for IE7?
IE6 will be here for a while until such time Windows 7 is the de facto OS for, example, government institutions. IE6 could’ve been gone a long time ago if only MS didn’t fubar Vista. A lot of these institutions are still stuck with XP and unfortunately, some of them are still using IE6.
Already did blog it!
This is a great idea, why wasn’t this done sooner?
IE6 will only be around as long as people support it. XP users can always use Firefox. Time to drive that change.
That date could be NOW. The reason is that Microsoft put IE7 into forced automated updates a year ago already. No one should be using IE6 anymore – if they do they are not probably security updated either!
I wholeheartedly support the idea of blowing IE6 out of web waters. Also love the notion that all those notices telling users they’re surfing with a lame excuse for a browser, will have a link to getfirefox.com. I think that the deadline should and can be set earlier. I really like the idea of 6/6. IMO this whole thing will probably only get traction and real attention in the media AFTER or at the deadline and if it’s only going to be web devs and geeks taking that step before the deadline… they, we – can do a thing like that much faster. Just use the usual hype channels :)
Amen.
You thought that was bad? Microsoft still provides extended support for IE5.01SP2 (on Windows 2000SP4) until 13/07/2010. Conveniently this date is also the end of mainstream support for Windows Server 2003, which shipped with IE6.
Hi,
The initiative started in Norway and we got all Media Houses on it within 30 hours. Twitter was used as a marketing channel. After 48 Hours all major websites in Norway and the biggest news-site in Europe (aftonbladet.se) joined. This means that the Norwegian reach is almost 100% of the population! Really amazing.
Now Europe with Germany, France and Denmark is joining
What is interesting is that US seems to not do anything :)
Follow the IE6 initiative here: http://ie6.forteller.net
I’ve never really understood why the US was behind on this kind of stuff but it sure seems to be. Weird.
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Hey Chris, I’ve updated my blog with the promised project page. It features a small tutorial for WordPress bloggers on how to embed the warning. Spread the word :-)
http://www.mijav.dk/?p=184
Done!
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Pure genius! I love it.
Who could possibly stop the momentum of this? Microsoft? Not hardly. What could they say?
“The final date for the end of life cycle for Internet Explorer 6 will not be on Dec 31st, 2009 as rumored.”
“We will continue to drag down the progression of the Internet and provide technical support (snicker) for IE6 until Hell freezes over.”
“You may however choose one of our other fine products, Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8, or one of the next ten releases of our browser until we are absolutely certain that we have gotten it all as wrong as possible.”
I fully support this initiative and will do my best to spread the word. Sorry that I discovered this so late.
Subscribing to your blog will prevent that from happening again.
P.S. Thanks for using a decent CAPTCHA service. I sincerely appreciate that.
Actually, the EOL of IE6 is exactly Thursday, 13 July 2010. At this date, the support for Windows 2000 finally ends. That’s the last currently supported OS where IE7 and IE8 can’t be installed.
It is also the real EOL for any IE 5.x.
“You thought that was bad? Microsoft still provides extended support for IE5.01SP2 (on Windows 2000SP4) until 13/07/2010. ”
As a rule, the version of IE shipped with the Windows release will continue to be supported under it’s support lifecycle, no matter how obsolete it is, as do the latest version of IE available for it.
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On our blog site (www.blog.securityitrust.com) we have some issue about IE 6. This old browser is still been used by some government department. Even Government IT people are convinced that this browser is Secure. So if the IT staff in an organisation doesn’t have any knowledge about IT Security how can you expect the management to be aware of the risks with browsers like IE 6.
Niall
http://www.securityitrist.com
We I am forced to drop support for IE6. And I am more than happy to do it. We have upgraded several machines to Windows 7. And guess what? You can’t run IE6Olas standalone on Win7. So I am informing my clients that we regret to no longer support IE6.
Like Daniel, I thought the EOL for IE6 was July 2010 (I’ve searched around Microsoft’s EOL pages and that’s the date on there), but today, the BBC has put up an article claiming IE6 will be supported until 2014! WTF! See:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8488751.stm
It’s great but late move from google :-) It should be done a years ago! It will make life easier for front-end developer/designer!
Sign the petition to urge the UK government to upgrade away from IE6.
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/ie6upgrade/
You can only sign if you’re a UK citizen. Please tweet this link, put it on facebook or blog about it!
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