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IE 6

8 August, 2009

And the need for websites to proactively tell users their browser is out of date:

Companies need an impetus to change their policy. One of four things will do this.

1. The company upgrades browsers as they upgrade their user’s machines. This is inevitable, and yes, simply waiting around is a perfectly valid strategy if you’re either in that handful of sites or don’t care. But you’re talking another 2-4 years of supporting IE6.

2. The company upgrades their browsers out of necessity. Should any major application the company user every drop support for a given browser, you can be assured that the company will immediately plan to upgrade their user’s machines.

3. The company upgrades their browsers out of user demand. As much as employees feel like their IT department is a cold, unforgiving wasteland of condescending, unsupportive social-rejects who like nothing better than to get in their way, those same social-rejects ultimately are there to support their users. And given enough employee demand, especially from the right employees, the department will begin to upgrade user’s browsers.

4. The CEO’s favorite web site stops working in IE6. Upgrades will happen the next week.

The essay goes so far as to say that snarky messages are a good idea. I recommend these.