The Nightmare that is IE 6

There aren’t as many evil monsters as there used to be when we were kids, in case you hadn’t noticed.  You remember the ones that hid in your closet and under your bed?  Well, arguably the biggest and scariest monster out there today is a web browser that roams the internet and possibly lives on your computer.  It’s created a nightmare of epic proportions for anyone using the web, let alone developing for it.  Its name?  Internet Explorer 6, commonly referred to as ‘IE 6’ (among other disparaging terms not suitable for public consumption).

There are very few pieces of software that have such a wide range of hatred geared towards it.  There are whole sites dedicated to its death, social media campaigns devoted to its ultimate demise , vigilantes posing as ‘citizens’ looking to lynch it, thoughtful attempts on how to bring it down and simple pages pleading for the IE6 nightmare to end.  There are great reasons for all of this, read on young grasshopper.

IE 6 Background

Internet Explorer 6 (IE 6) was released in 2001, which in internet years is roughly the equivalent to the Civil War or Donner Party era.  (If only IE 6 could consume itself, that would be sweet!)  Because it was distributed via the dominant Microsoft Windows, it quickly became the most widely used web browser used by the public.  There was nothing wrong with that in 2001, or maybe even 2002.  But as the web evolved, Microsoft rested on its laurels / overwhelmingly large user base and ignored the landscape that was changing at incredible speed.  As web standards and security measures evolved, IE 6 stood pat.  As all sorts of new awesomeness started to emerge, it also started to break and/or not function at all in IE6.  And yet Microsoft did nothing.  For years.

The CliffsNotes version?  Friends don’t let friends use IE 6.  Free and awesome alternatives abound - use one!

A Nightmare for Developers

Can you imagine going to work every day, and having to do all of your work twice? In essence, that’s what it’s like developing web pages for IE 6.  Taking the time to do it right, developing according to web standards, testing and being stoked that everything works - and then… having to do it all over again, simply to make it work on Internet Explorer 6.  Hence the reason this piece of software is universally hated by those in the web development community.

A Nightmare for Users of the Modern Web

Microsoft largely ignored the growing user complaints that started turning the tide against their aging browser.  In a half-hearted attempt, they pushed out IE 7 in late 2006 which did little to ease issues with web standards and which resulted in mostly just a ‘bandaid’ release.  In March of 2009 Microsoft rolled out IE 8, a modest improvement but still clunky, slow and lacking all of the support for web standards that a modern browser should have.  Case in point, IE 8 still fails a widely used measuring stick, the Acid3 test, miserably - scoring a horrible 20/100. 

But we digress - the point is even after two releases IE6 clings to life with 10-20% market share at the time of this entry, depending on the source.  If you are still using IE 6, stop.  Simply put, IE 6 is not a modern browser, and can’t give you full access to the modern web, or allow you to browse the web safely.

The End Is Near (Hallelujah!)

Perhaps you heard the big news lately that Chinese-based hackers exploited IE 6 in order to launch attacks on Google’s internal systems.  And although Microsoft quietly launched a patch for its ancient monster,  more security issues continue to emerge.  Plug one hole and two more spring up.  Perhaps the best news stemming from well publicized events such as this is that web heavyweights such as Google, and YouTube are officially ending support for IE6, which should help end this nightmare for all of us even faster.

You can help end it too by not running IE 6 if you are currently doing so.  (And really, IE 7 and IE 8 aren’t recommended either).  There is a nice collection of free browsers available right now that blow Internet Explorer away.  We recommend Firefox, though you can also try Chrome, Opera and Safari. 

So do your part to make the web a better experience and a safer place for yourself, not to mention everyone else.  Otherwise we’re left to let the scariest monster this side of Star Wars sheets die its own long, slow death.