IE6 Almost Dead In the US 335
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.'"
No reason to celebrate now. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:No reason to celebrate now. (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.
Re:No reason to celebrate now. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:No reason to celebrate now. (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.
Re:No reason to celebrate now. (Score:5, 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.
Nope (Score:5, Insightful)
Since you got modded up so high, I think you also need to be taken down a notch.
Re:No reason to celebrate now. (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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.
Re:No reason to celebrate now. (Score:4, 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 [xkcd.com].) 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.
Re:No reason to celebrate now. (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!
Re:No reason to celebrate now. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:No reason to celebrate now. (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.