03-05-2011, 03:30 AM

Microsoft posts countdown to kill off Internet Explorer 6
Microsoft posts countdown to kill off Internet Explorer 6 | Electronista

03-05-2011, 12:29 PM

I find it hard to believe that people have not upgraded to Explorer 7 that use Windows.

03-05-2011, 12:59 PM

The reason continues to be the enterprise. I worked in IT as a summer job for a few years and since automatic updates are disabled on many machines, IE6 remains. I had to go upgrade IE on some machines simply because IE6 can't handle newer web technologies.

There is also the large number of XP machines still floating around that don't get updated or if they do, IE isn't updated. There could also be individuals who install XP and don't use IE, thus leaving v. 6 as the installed version.

This is where IE9 as being unavailable for XP is both good and bad - it's great because it won't be limited by the lack of advancements in XP but since XP is likely the OS with the largest IE6 install base, there may be fewer upgrades once 9 replaces 8 as the newest version.

03-05-2011, 01:14 PM

Correct me if I am wrong but in order for updates to work on the OS itself IE must be used could they just simply put up a page in order to update you must first install IE 7 or state on the update IE7 is required that seems like it would push the demise of 6.

03-05-2011, 01:22 PM

IE 6 only works on XP I believe, and XP isn't getting updates any longer. It won't work on Windows 7.

Van is correct, it's mainly the enterprise which is still using IE6. You'd be amazed the number of fortune 500 companies still on XP. And of those, a bunch are still on IE 6 because often their internal sites or apps only work with IE 6.

03-05-2011, 07:07 PM

Originally Posted by schweb

IE 6 only works on XP I believe, and XP isn't getting updates any longer. It won't work on Windows 7.

Van is correct, it's mainly the enterprise which is still using IE6. You'd be amazed the number of fortune 500 companies still on XP. And of those, a bunch are still on IE 6 because often their internal sites or apps only work with IE 6.

We're one of those companies that tend to drag our feet. We only got off of IE6 about 2 years ago. It's not as easy of a transition as you might think - some of the external vendors we work with have poorly maintained web tools that often don't play ball with newer browsers. Also add-ons can be problematic when upgrading.

We're on IE7 now and eventually we'll go to IE8 when we do the Win7 roll-out (which is slated to finish sometime next year). By that time, I suspect Win8 will have rolled out. But hey, at least we're upgrading. I remember doing a refresh back in 2005. At the time, we were making the quantum leap from NT4 w/ Office '97 to XP with Office '03. That's an 8-year refresh cycle!

03-05-2011, 08:15 PM

We're still on IE 6 at work cwa, so don't feel like you're dragging the feet too badly.

I'll be surprised if we see Win 7 anytime before late 2012 or 2013.

03-05-2011, 08:39 PM

So in actuality, if the majority of these IE6 are enterprises, we'll only see like a .1-9 adjustment of the percentages on MS countdown site?