Internet Explorer 6 does not have the best reputation among the technically aware due to its security holes, lack of features, and arrant disregard for modern web standards. Yet, it is the default and often the only browser at the majority of large companies. This article looks at how this came to be and questions the efficacy of the status quo.
Throughout the 1990s, Netscape and Microsoft fought for dominance in the browser market by releasing more and more unique features for their browsers. Without a common standard, a website could work fine in one browser and be unusable in another, and it was common to display "best viewed in Netscape" or "best viewed in Internet Explorer" buttons, inviting users to download the optimal browser. By the end of the decade Microsoft had defeated Netscape, which was largely due to tying Internet Explorer to its Windows operating system.
When IE6 was released on August 27, 2001, it received a warm welcome from the web community. Web developers praised its DOCTYPE support, which allowed designers to use standards-based markup by declaring a document type; if a site did not have a document type declared, IE6 would render it in "quirks mode"—an ugly legacy from the browser wars.
By 2004 Internet Explorer had a 95% market share but was starting to show its age. In the ‘90s, Microsoft was releasing a new version of Internet Explorer every year or two. Now, without a strong competitor, it left its browser stagnant. Occasional security breaches were becoming more and more common and the tech-savvy users began flocking to new competitors, such as Firefox and Safari. These new browsers had improved security, more features and better support for W3C standards.
Five years have passed between the releases of Internet Explorer 6 and Windows Internet Explorer 7. Microsoft timed the release to coincide with the release of Windows Vista. The new operating system was poorly received, and even though IE7 was available for Windows XP, many did not see a reason to upgrade. Likewise, people did not flock to IE8 when it was released last year together with Windows 7.
Simply because the majority of large companies are still using Windows XP, many of them are still using the browser that came with it. Some companies are reluctant to switch because their intranets and in-house applications were developed for IE6—perhaps using Microsoft's FrontPage 2000 software—instead of for the most widely supported web standards, and upgrading the browser would require changing these applications as well. From this perspective, sticking with IE6 is easy to rationalize as the simplest and cheapest option. The reality, however, is that in an era when more and more companies use cloud computing and software-as-a-service solutions, when one accounts for compromised security and productivity, the old IE6 browser may actually cost the company more.
It is time for corporate IT departments to consider installing an alternate browser for internet use and limiting IE6 access to the company's intranet.
Vol. 53, June 2010