WordPress kills off Internet Explorer 6 (IE6)
Free at last. Free at last! WordPress finally pulls the plug on the much hated internet browser, Internet Explorer version 6. WordPress.com is the first to discontinue support of IE6 with the self-hosted WordPress.org platform version 3.2 to soon follow suit. WordPress 3.2 stable is set to release June 2011 and will require all users to upgrade their browsers if using Internet Explorer 6.
About Internet Explorer 6
Internet Explorer 6 was first released with Microsoft XP on August 27, 2001. It was the sixth version of Microsoft’s default browser to hit the market and it has made waves ever since by being remarked as one of the worst tech products of all time. Besides it’s near total lack of web standards and missing features of modern browsers, the near decade old browser has some very serious security issues.
Microsoft wants you to upgrade too!
That’s right! Microsoft is trying to get the rest of the world to move past its mistake and upgrade their browsers. They have recently released Internet Explorer 9 with several great features and offers a better experience on the web.
Why did WordPress drop support?
At some point we just have to move on and thankfully that time is now. WordPress has done an amazing job of being backwards compatible and offering a platform usable by even the slowest computers used in third worlds but eventually WordPress has to cut ties and keep moving forward with the rest of the world. We want to keep the internet safe and secure. One way to do that is to get as many people as we can to upgrade their browsers. Also, as WordPress becomes more feature-filled the platform will require more from the browser and that browser needs to have the capabilities to keep up.
Final Thought
About time! Personally as a web developer, IE6 has done nothing but cause headaches for me. Its complete lack of web standards has been such a burden on the internet. Knowing there are people out there still using Internet Explorer 6 simply because they don’t know any better eats me up inside. I know they are totally missing out on the entire internet. I want to give props to WordPress for finally making the call to drop support for IE6 and helping the world move past Microsoft’s mistake. Thank you WordPress!
GREAT news! It’s frustrating to see people still using IE6. They really are missing out on the entire internet!
You know too that part of the problem with this for some users of internet explore 6 is that some people still need it to run some specific software, so they can not update. I feel your pain man. It is just one of those things you know!
The great news about it is that now I can go to the client and say “Sorry, you need to upgrade because the software thta i am using will not support your browser”. :)