"Surfing the Web on an old browser can be a lot like running a steam engine along the tracks of a bullet train--it may still work, but it doesn't take advantage of the speed and security of the new technology."
This is a quote from the YouTube post, appropriately titled: Solve a Problem: Upgrading your browser
YouTube announces the discontinuation of support for IE6 (amongst other older browsers) as of March 13th. Google, parent company to YouTube, also announced that they would be ending support for IE6 as of March 1st of this year. It has been a slow death for IE6 and the only regrets I have is how long it is actually taking to simply do away with this thing. I have mentioned it many times, but IE 6 is a real pain the ass because it simply is not modern technology. Originally released in 2001, it has become a real challenge to support over the years. In fact just the other day I got a call from a client who stated that the drop down menus on his site were not working in IE6. The best advise I could give him was UPGRADE and then I refered him to the Wikipedia article which states:
"This version of Internet Explorer is widely derided for its security issues and lack of support for modern web standards, making frequent appearances in "worst tech products of all time" lists, with some publications labeling it as the "least secure software on the planet." Campaigns have been established to encourage users to upgrade to newer versions of Internet Explorer or switch to different browsers, and some websites have dropped support for IE6 entirely"
It blows me away that people still use this ancient piece of software! You can't get any cheaper than free and since 2001 an abundance of browser types and versions have been released. And this really isn't about my reluctance to 'fix' anything that is not working, it is about the security risk that any IE6 user is taking each and every time they turn on thier computer. We are getting very very close to Project BIG fish removing IE6 from our list of supported browsers.
Screenshot of YouTube's message to IE6 users:
Posted on
Thursday, February 25, 2010
by Shane Larrabee
filed under