4 ms·

If we're talking about designer blogs or minor sites/apps that do not involve a great amount of development, then I absolutely agree with the author. BUT if we

If we're talking about designer blogs or minor sites/apps that do not involve a great amount of development, then I absolutely agree with the author. BUT if we're talking about large web applications that have serious development costs for every "supported" web browser, then his argument breaks down quickly. These costs come in the form of feature development, bug fixing and in customer support for released features. When a single web browser consumes the majority of these costs, yet the browser is continually falling lower and lower in usage, then it's time to put serious thought in dropping support for that browser.

Jem 18y ago
I'm the only developer for a company that has created (and continues to support) some huge sites that require(d) a great amount of development. For the majority of these sites, IE6 is not falling in usage. It has hit - and stuck at - around 30%. Alienating 30% of a client's potential customers is just not an option.
- mr_justin 18y ago
  I absolutely agree. You need to be able to look at YOUR numbers and do the math based on your company's needs. Blanketed statements do not work here. FWIW, most people who are dropping IE6 support are doing so when it hits the 6-8% usage range.
  - Jem 18y ago
    > FWIW, most people who are dropping IE6 support are doing so when it hits the 6-8% usage range. I know - I want to know where these people get their audience from so that I can swap ;)
    - mr_justin 18y ago
      Stop doing government work :p
      - Jem 18y ago
        I like to eat - I'll take whatever work comes my way.
- moe 18y ago
  That sounds painful - and interesting. Do you happen to know what kind of userbase that is? Since IE7 is pushed pretty aggressively by windows update I would think there must be a few large corporations in there who have rejected the update thus far? At least I want to think that because IE6 being stuck at 30% gives me the shivers. On our sites IE6 has been constantly dropping since about December and is now at around 18%. That's still too much but at least the tendency is right here...
  - Jem 18y ago
    I can't be too specific but one site in particular that I maintain has a big user base in education (from nurseries to universities) and I think it's very likely that this heavily influences the IE stats. I know from experience (I've worked as tech support in schools and a college) that these establishments are normally the very last to push out upgrades to things like browsers. There's a big "if it works, don't touch it" attitude.
    - ankhmoop 18y ago
      Which implies that if a sufficient number of web sites cease to work with IE6, such sites will "touch it"?
      - Jem 18y ago
        Not really. Your average IT admin in a school isn't going to care that the students can't get to latestweb2gadget.com
  - mr_justin 18y ago
    > Since IE7 is pushed pretty aggressively by windows update I would think there must be a few large corporations in there who have rejected the update thus far? Don't forget that IE7 isn't available on Win2k, which is still being used in academic and government organizations a far bit.
- jamesjyu 18y ago
  Same here. I'm at a huge site, and IE6 is still 30% strong.

Jem 18y ago

I'm the only developer for a company that has created (and continues to support) some huge sites that require(d) a great amount of development. For the majority of these sites, IE6 is not falling in usage. It has hit - and stuck at - around 30%. Alienating 30% of a client's potential customers is just not an option.

mr_justin 18y ago
I absolutely agree. You need to be able to look at YOUR numbers and do the math based on your company's needs. Blanketed statements do not work here. FWIW, most people who are dropping IE6 support are doing so when it hits the 6-8% usage range.
- Jem 18y ago
  > FWIW, most people who are dropping IE6 support are doing so when it hits the 6-8% usage range. I know - I want to know where these people get their audience from so that I can swap ;)
  - mr_justin 18y ago
    Stop doing government work :p
    - Jem 18y ago
      I like to eat - I'll take whatever work comes my way.
moe 18y ago
That sounds painful - and interesting. Do you happen to know what kind of userbase that is? Since IE7 is pushed pretty aggressively by windows update I would think there must be a few large corporations in there who have rejected the update thus far? At least I want to think that because IE6 being stuck at 30% gives me the shivers. On our sites IE6 has been constantly dropping since about December and is now at around 18%. That's still too much but at least the tendency is right here...
- Jem 18y ago
  I can't be too specific but one site in particular that I maintain has a big user base in education (from nurseries to universities) and I think it's very likely that this heavily influences the IE stats. I know from experience (I've worked as tech support in schools and a college) that these establishments are normally the very last to push out upgrades to things like browsers. There's a big "if it works, don't touch it" attitude.
  - ankhmoop 18y ago
    Which implies that if a sufficient number of web sites cease to work with IE6, such sites will "touch it"?
    - Jem 18y ago
      Not really. Your average IT admin in a school isn't going to care that the students can't get to latestweb2gadget.com
- mr_justin 18y ago
  > Since IE7 is pushed pretty aggressively by windows update I would think there must be a few large corporations in there who have rejected the update thus far? Don't forget that IE7 isn't available on Win2k, which is still being used in academic and government organizations a far bit.
jamesjyu 18y ago
Same here. I'm at a huge site, and IE6 is still 30% strong.