4 ms·

Depends on who your client is. If you're running a tech-y website/blog and most of your users are running Safari or the next FF beta, you're generally OK not su

Depends on who your client is. If you're running a tech-y website/blog and most of your users are running Safari or the next FF beta, you're generally OK not supporting IE6, and can probably even pull off a snarky message that pops up alerting your IE6 users that they're using a crappy browser. If your client is a financial services company that mandates its employees use Win NT, your cries of "but IE6 is dead!" will be drowned out by angry shouts of "our interwebs site is broke!" Charts like this are helpful because they give us a sense for the current, global browser-usage climate and trends. However, global statistics alone should never be used to determine which browsers your site should support, as a cross-section of your niche of users may vary widely from this data.

derefr 17y ago
I really wish Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and everyone else who controlled a decent portion of the net would all just agree to simultaneously put up snarky messages. What if the entire internet did break for IE6, all of the sudden? Given a long, fair warning--perhaps even a TV ad--it could be similar to the analog switchoff.
- martey 17y ago
  This is super unlikely to happen. Google's snarky messages would invite people to download Chrome, while Apple's would try to convince people to download Safari. Combined with the fact that people still using IE6 of their own volition would be most likely to blame Microsoft for "breaking the Internet" and switch to a different browser, it would not be in Microsoft's best interests to coordinate something like this. In addition, television advertising made sense for switching off analog television, since the people most likely to be affected would be watching. Even if even one of the three companies you mentioned put up money for television advertising, it would be a waste of resources. Targeted banner ads would be better.
  - dandelany 17y ago
    > Google's snarky messages would invite people to download Chrome Actually, I'm surprised Google hasn't tried anything like this yet. Given how many ie6'ers use Google everyday, I bet a nonintrusive, hide-able message on search results pages encouraging them to 'upgrade' to Chrome would go a long way towards increasing their marketshare.
    - param 17y ago
      This could probably be considered anti-competitive (using their search monopoly to push their other products). Even though the courts may rule their way, why should they bother?
      - cabalamat 17y ago
        > This could probably be considered anti-competitive It could be, but I don't think it is. Every other browser supplier has the right to -- and does -- put up web pages suggesting people use their browser; they also have the right to put up other content on their websites, which may or may not drive traffic to them. I note that the Microsoft home page has an ad for IE8 on it, and this isn't anti-competitive either. Jusdt because Google is successful, doesn't mean they're anti-competitive. Now if they fiddled with their web site so other people's browsers didn't work properly, or fiddled with their browser so other people's websites were poorly rendered, that would be uncompetitive.
    - Kadin 17y ago
      A few days ago I loaded up IE6 on a company machine (to download Firefox, natch) and noticed that Google displays a message on the main page, in a box in the upper-right corner, encouraging me to download Chrome. It doesn't seem to appear using any other browser. So they're getting pretty close to doing that; perhaps less obtrusively than you suggest, but the intent is there.
  - ken 17y ago
    They haven't tried snarky yet, but Google does invite users to upgrade from IE6, and they suggest IE7: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=78160&hl=en http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=78160&#3...

derefr 17y ago

I really wish Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and everyone else who controlled a decent portion of the net would all just agree to simultaneously put up snarky messages. What if the entire internet did break for IE6, all of the sudden? Given a long, fair warning--perhaps even a TV ad--it could be similar to the analog switchoff.

martey 17y ago
This is super unlikely to happen. Google's snarky messages would invite people to download Chrome, while Apple's would try to convince people to download Safari. Combined with the fact that people still using IE6 of their own volition would be most likely to blame Microsoft for "breaking the Internet" and switch to a different browser, it would not be in Microsoft's best interests to coordinate something like this. In addition, television advertising made sense for switching off analog television, since the people most likely to be affected would be watching. Even if even one of the three companies you mentioned put up money for television advertising, it would be a waste of resources. Targeted banner ads would be better.
- dandelany 17y ago
  > Google's snarky messages would invite people to download Chrome Actually, I'm surprised Google hasn't tried anything like this yet. Given how many ie6'ers use Google everyday, I bet a nonintrusive, hide-able message on search results pages encouraging them to 'upgrade' to Chrome would go a long way towards increasing their marketshare.
  - param 17y ago
    This could probably be considered anti-competitive (using their search monopoly to push their other products). Even though the courts may rule their way, why should they bother?
    - cabalamat 17y ago
      > This could probably be considered anti-competitive It could be, but I don't think it is. Every other browser supplier has the right to -- and does -- put up web pages suggesting people use their browser; they also have the right to put up other content on their websites, which may or may not drive traffic to them. I note that the Microsoft home page has an ad for IE8 on it, and this isn't anti-competitive either. Jusdt because Google is successful, doesn't mean they're anti-competitive. Now if they fiddled with their web site so other people's browsers didn't work properly, or fiddled with their browser so other people's websites were poorly rendered, that would be uncompetitive.
  - Kadin 17y ago
    A few days ago I loaded up IE6 on a company machine (to download Firefox, natch) and noticed that Google displays a message on the main page, in a box in the upper-right corner, encouraging me to download Chrome. It doesn't seem to appear using any other browser. So they're getting pretty close to doing that; perhaps less obtrusively than you suggest, but the intent is there.
- ken 17y ago
  They haven't tried snarky yet, but Google does invite users to upgrade from IE6, and they suggest IE7: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=78160&hl=en http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=78160&#3...