Please, update your browser · Sunday December 2, 2007
Browsing the web with an out-dated browser is not very wise. There are all sorts of security risks involved. Besides, it’s a pain in the ass for every web developer and designer to make websites work with old browsers.
Let’s take a look at Internet Explorer 6 for example. We’re talking about a browser that is not developed anymore, because Internet Explorer 7 has come to replace it. IE6 also has been quite insecure. Still it is very much in use today, as these statistics prove.
Some good signs are to be seen though, but you could hope a quicker development in moving out of IE6:
IE6 usage stats (from January to October 2007):
usage has decreased in nine months from 42.3% to 34.5%
[ Source: W3Schools Browser Statistics ]How long will it approximately take to get to zero per cent?
The answer: almost 40 months which equals approximately 3.3 years
Although it seems very unsafe to use IE6, I can see the reasons behind it. It all comes down to three things:
- people get used to using a particular program
- people might not know they are using an outdated browser
- all web applications might not yet work with other browsers (yes, it is the web developer’s fault for designing stuff for one browser only).
Also the new UI of IE7 might be a little bit too much for some. When I first saw it, I was amazed. How can they mess it up like that and think that people will learn to use it right away?
But luckily, you’ve got other options than the IE browser family. It seems that Firefox has become the most popular browser. And I must say that it is for a reason. For instance, it had tabbed browsing enabled for ages before IE7 was introduced. It doesn’t have as concerning security issues as IE, and those issues get fixed much faster. And you’ve got a helluva choice of add-ons.
In conclusion, if you are using IE6 (or some even older browser) I suggest you take a look at IE7 or Mozilla Firefox and switch to one of them (and you can install both of them, if you want to). And if you get interested about other browsers (yes, there are even more!) you can take a look at evolt.org Browser Archive. Who said you don’t have options?!?
Spread the word: Stumble It!
Have your say:
Petri #
Recently Netscape, or AOL, has abandoned it's browser. Netscape will have no longer updates after February and they recommend their users to embrace Mozilla Firefox. Quite surprising, but it was expected to happen sooner or later ;-)