Ie6 - When Will Be Dead ? discution about developers and Internet Explorer 6

[xebay 0]

Most web designers will have copies of each of the leading browsers installed on their system for testing purposes.
However, given the percentage of readers who come to HTMLSource still using Internet Explorer 6, there are obviously a huge amount of people out there who havent been told that there are better browsers available.

What do you think, when will be the time, when developers won't have to test their work in IE6 ??

I am waiting for that time to arrive

Notice from electriic ink:

Section plagiarised has been quoted:

http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/starthere/browserreview.html

Edited July 2, 2008 by electriic ink (see edit history)

[electriic ink 1]

It will be dead in about 2 years probably.

 

If you look back into the past, you'll see that IE6 was released in August 2001, yet, according to w3schools, IE5 maintained a significant market share (10%) until November 2004, over three years later:

 

http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/default.asp

 

So if you apply that to today, testing on IE6 should cease just over three years after IE7's release, which is in early 2010.

[miladinoski 1]

Just to add to the subject, IE will die faster as soon as Microsoft stops preloading it right into the system with giving a choice to install other browser, and/or giving a choice to uninstall it once installed. Then IE's share will certainly drop and every web-dev in the world will be happy

 

As for MS IE 6 as a version of Internet Explorer, it will die sooner or later, my expecatitions are next year and I don't agree with electriic ink because the humans are awake and more concered about their browsers from before, IE's share constantly drops in favour of the alternative browsers. If IE goes to 50% share there will be a huge alarm in Microsoft which I think will raise the awareness of the company about their browser product and they will give more into IE making it a worthy browser to use, not just to test in

 

Cheers

 

P.S. I personally when I'll get my Xisto hosting (No ads ) I won't test in IE. I will just recommend Opera/Firefox/Safari and move on.

Edited July 2, 2008 by white_eagle (see edit history)

[truefusion 3]

Just to add to the subject, IE will die faster as soon as Microsoft stops preloading it right into the system ...

IE6 will die even faster if people would stop designing for it. Usually the main reason for something's existence is due to the support it has. IE6 isn't anything special, the only thing it can do that many other popular browsers can't is use ActiveX and update your Windows system.

P.S. I personally when I get my Xisto hosting (No ads ) I won't test in IE. I will just recommend Opera/Firefox/Safari and move on.

I've been doing that for about a year and counting.

[Forbez 0]

I agree with the guy who said 2 years, but I wish it was sooner. Really restricts web designers who want a wide and vast audience.Truefusion you make a great point, if web designers stopped supporting it, then there will be no need for it, it'll come obsolete. Sooner the better in my opinion.

[xebay 0]

Our goal is coming very soon to finalization....

After all your posts I say that one year will be enough.

To argument my believe I quote an article from computerworld.com

As was the case last month, Firefox's June share was a new record for the open-source browser, which has been on a two-month climb after being interrupted in April when its share slipped somewhat. Last month's increase was nearly equal to the increase of the month before, which in turn had been the largest for Firefox since December 2007.
Safari and Opera also posted record market shares in June, reported Net Applications, while IE reached a record low last month.

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

Another thing .... if you say that the best thing is no to test our work in IE6, what should we do if our clients asks for IE6 support???

Should we not fulfill our clients expectation???
Edited July 3, 2008 by xebay (see edit history)

[sonesay 7]

why would you want to support IE 6? Unless you have clients using pirated windows which is a common case because they cannot legally update to IE7. I was working on a site for my friend one time and he wanted me to fix things for IE 6 and I asked why don't you just upgrade their browser to IE 7 and its because they cannot. Another reason IE 6 is still being used a lot is probably because of piracy because if you could you would upgrade to IE7 much better browser then IE 6.

[electriic ink 1]

If IE goes to 50% share there will be a huge alarm in Microsoft which I think will raise the awareness of the company about their browser product and they will give more into IE making it a worthy browser to use, not just to test in

But it never will. The majority of people who use the Internet use it once in a few days for a few hours each time. These people couldn't care less how standards-compliant the browser is and if the browser is easy to test on. Despite Firefox and Opera being very well-known, IE still has 83% of the market share - something Firefox developers can only dream of.

 

Firefox's share of the market is almost certainly capped at 25 - 30%.

 

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

 

 

why would you want to support IE 6?

Because IE6 users represent a good 30% of your clients. To not do so would turn away business.

 

Another reason IE 6 is still being used a lot is probably because of piracy because if you could you would upgrade to IE7 much better browser then IE 6.

Possibly. I think it's more that the average IE6 user does not care enough about browsing the Internet to want to upgrade to IE7. Many get upgraded by force when they buy a new computer.

[Sica-GURU 0]

tell you what..IE6 will be dead when people will stop using Windows Xp...and that's not gonna happen too soon...cause xp is good enough and doesn't need so much resources as Vista needs, maybe in 3-4 years everybody will have a new pc with plenty of resources and will start using vista or later widows os...till then IE 6 is not going to die...and hey, designers and developers will always have 3-4 different browsers on their pc )not all of them but some will...as long as every browser interprets the code in different waysI've also heard on the net that in UK or other countries people don't bother changing their Internet browser, I guess they're not so smart (I don't wanna generalize)

Edited July 3, 2008 by Sica-GURU (see edit history)

[delivi 0]

People have started upgrading their browsers to IE 7 (especially after Microsoft removed the piracy check for IE7), Firefox, Opera and Safari. IE 6 is now used by less than 10% of the Internet users. Usually they are non-technology persons or people who still use outdated Windows 98. Recently I was surprised that the AVG LinkScanner a new feature in AVG Anti-Virus application is identifying it self as IE6, so the actual IE 6 traffic might be even lesser.

[Saint_Michael 3]

I give Internet Explorer about two more years, depending on how well Internet Explorer 8 is received, and with Internet Explorer 8 beta 2 coming out in August. Everyone should get a better idea what to expect with the full release since it seems Microsoft is serious with standards this time. You all have to remember if Internet Explorer 7 didn't bomb and mess up the standards like it did, then Internet Explorer would have been gone long ago. So it is all up to Internet Explorer 8 team to see how long Internet Explorer 6 lasts.

[truefusion 3]

Another thing ... if you say that the best thing is no to test our work in IE6, what should we do if our clients asks for IE6 support???
Should we not fulfill our clients expectation???

I wouldn't call it an "expectation." And if it is the best thing to do, then it is not in the client's best interest to support old things.

You might want to read this: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

That should change any client's mind.

[Echo_of_thunder 1]

IE 6 will never really die. there will always be someone someplace on a low end PC that will have to used IE 6. For one too many people dont care for IE7 encluding myself. As saint michael said maybe 2 years. But will bet my last credit that someone will be using it 5 or 10 yrs down the road. Myself I know people that still use and love IE 5.5, so I have to say it will never truely die.