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Last week, WordPress dropped support for IE6 and joined the hundreds of other web sites that are working to move enterprises and consumers alike to a modern browser platform. Thank you! As WordPress highlighted in their blog, you can track IE6’s demise across the globe and join the cause on the IE6 Countdown site.
The additional developer work supporting IE6 and even IE7 is something we would love to see be a thing of the past. More than that, however, is the security concern. IE6 was the browser that shipped with Windows XP 10 years ago. Maximum PC posted a piece last week that caught my eye. The article summarizes some data from a recent Microsoft Security Intelligence Report. It’s a rich report, but one of the findings highlighted was that the infection rates for Windows 7 PCs are in fact five times lower than that of a Windows XP machine with Service Pack 3. The chart below and the excerpt from the article show just how stark the security improvement is as you move from XP to Windows 7.
“We knew that Windows XP was holding back Microsoft’s ability to innovate on the security of its operating systems, but just how much? Well according to new data released in the company’s annual Security Intelligence Report, infection rates for Windows 7 are five times lower than a fully patched machine running Windows XP SP3. Windows Vista faired significantly better, however infection rates were still almost double that of a comparable Windows 7 based PC.” Source: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/windows_7_infection_rates_5_times_lower_xp
This is just one more example that shows that the browser you run is only as good as the operating system it runs on. Windows 7 provides a modern operating system that is designed to support a modern web. IE6 and Window XP were fine pieces of software for their time, but the threats of ten years ago and the protections available to consumers pale in comparison to what we can do today to keep users safe. Advancements in things like DEP (Data Execution Prevention) and ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) are fundamental security innovations that simply didn’t exist with Windows XP. SmartScreen Application Reputation in IE9 helps protect you from the #1 threat to consumers today, socially engineered malware.
For our customers that are on Windows XP, the good news is that you can continue to use the world’s number one browser with IE8 and get some of the protections the afforded by the browser with technologies like SmartScreen. For the best protection however, Windows 7 with IE9 provides the environment for browsing the web safely.
As we look forward, we share developer and partner enthusiasm for what’s ahead and can’t wait to see what developers will create with the new capabilities enabled by IE9 and Windows 7.
Ryan Gavin Senior Director, Internet Explorer Business and Marketing
That's good news. Let's see if the top ten websites all cease to support Internet Explorer 6.
Right now, Alexa reports these sites are the top ten:
1. Google
2. Facebook
3. Youtube
4. Yahoo
5. Live
6. Baidu
7. Wikipedia
8. Blogger
9. MSN
10. Tencent
Well, Wikipedia will be a tough nut to crack.
Colored statistics ? If the number of XP systems is 10 times higher than the number of WIn 7 systems, it would be likely that there are 10 times more infections on XP systems simply because there are more systems.
Thus the graph does not mean anything
windows xp pro and ie8 are working just fine for me.
however i do not like the idea of people banning ie6
what are folks that cant afford newer equipment or operating system software upgrades suppose to do?
are all these so called non-supporters going to be offering free software to the less fortunate?
or maybe they do not mind having a few less hits on there sites.
either way, thanks for the list "Fleet Command"
Every single website in the world should drop support for IE6 and IE7. IE9 is the future (and IE10 soon!).
@thetruckinglife I believe that every computer that is capable of running Internet Explorer 6, is also capable of running Windows XP SP 3 and therefor is also capable of running Internet Explorer 8 (or 7, if you insist).
Internet Explorer 6 is an old security risk, if you cannot afford to upgrade your Windows XP to SP 3 (which does not make sense, because the system requirements are the same, as far as I know), then I guess you should say goodbye to your system anyway, because someone will simply destroy it by exploiting the security holes that it has anyhow.
talking about security,i work for the Government and we all use XP on our machines or Linux,just because XP is more stable,friendly,compatible and even very secured compared to windows 7,according to our IT department
talking about IE,after all the propaganda on IE9 about its speed and beauty,I 've compared IE9 and chrome on five PCs and chrome won on all PCs when it came to start up speed,page loading speed, and searching
conclusion i dont believe in any stats from micrsoft anymore
since IE6 is now a danger it means IE9 is also a potential danger for now and definitely a future danger,reason why IE10 is on its way
@barts2108 Statistics 101: when samples are taken, they are taken for a statistically significant equal sample of systems in each category. Ergo, the stats do mean what they say, according to the this particular statistician.
@kenny: Any IT department saying that XP is more stable or secure than Windows 7 needs to re-investigate whether it should be an IT department. I do understand that some government users can't change operating systems due to the need to retrain people that are not all that computer saavy, but that can't be the entire government. It is just dangerous to believe that XP is inherently more secure than Windows 7. Dangerous.
As for Chrome vs IE9, the page loads may be a "little" faster in Chrome, but that's because it lacks standards support and graphics acceleration. I would much rather tha pages load slightly slower if the videos are going to play back better.
@Leigh -
"because it lacks standards support" - Are you serious here? saying that Chrome lacks standards support? Chrome?
Compared to Internet Explorer 9?
Seriously?
How can you even utter this argument?
Is this a joke?
@Leigh,you may be right regarding the XP and W7 comparism.
but,seriously?
chrome VS IE9? are you kidding me?
lets even consider the fact IE9 has hardware accelerator,but what matters is the browsing experience and chrome just rocks in that aspect.
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